Windstorm
by RonnieDoll
Summary: When the Teen Titans follow Cinderblock into a nearby city, they stumble upon a mysterious girl with a deadly affiliation and a strange connection to the past. Before long they make the city's corruption a personal case - though the city might not be the only thing in need of saving. STATUS: In Progress!
1. Unwanted Arrivals

[authors note]

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

Sooo I haven't written fanfiction in a very long time. Nor have I watched Teen Titans recently. But I remember how much I loved them. This story has been in my head for a while, so I decided I'll let it out. Please review if you like it!

Thanks!

**Update:** Chapter revised; May 2013

-ch one: unwanted arrivals-

"Ugh."

The sound of disgust echoed down the cement corridors and through the murky waters. It didn't matter how many times the pale girl traveled through them (the number of which was great and possibly looming into the tens of thousands by now), she still vocalized her displeasure at the sewers as a whole. The scent, the appearance, the texture of the walls and unknown substance on the walls… it was all just ridiculously unappealing.

Plus, the view got monotonous. She walked the same route nearly every time. Take the forgotten manhole in the alley between the Top Hat Deli and Mario's Pizzeria down and follow the path to the right past seven turns, then make more turns than you could count until you reached a dead end. Same damned thing, many times a day. It was like getting highway hypnosis, only worse, because it was sewer hypnosis. She spent so much time down below that she probably reeked of it permanently. Of course, she spent so much time down below that she couldn't smell it if she did.

The entrance was very secretive. She actually gave her boss some credit for disguising it so well. Quietly, she lifted her small hand and placed it against a seemingly random spot on the storm-colored wall. She sucked air in through her teeth and winced as a tiny needle jabbed her fingertip. While the system verified her identity she scowled her displeasure at the blood test and rubbed her offended finger with her thumb. An invisible seam suddenly broke apart with a hushed hiss, revealing a narrow opening that the girl slipped through quickly before it slammed shut on her brown hair – _again_. With a pause she allowed her narrowed eyes to adjust to the glare of the industrial fluorescent lights above. The interior metal walls were certainly shinier than the outside concrete, but still, like her eyes, the same dull shade of grey.

Her pace increased as she stalked through the halls, passing door after door, keeping her gaze low because she knew the bright lighting only lasted as long as the hallway did. As her Converse-covered foot stepped on the only tile with a scratch in it, she lifted her right arm and grabbed for a handle, knowing it was there. The door opened almost silently. Quickly, she closed it behind her, knowing if she didn't the computer drones would hiss their displeasure as the rays of industrial lighting shone into the darkness.

Finally she looked up. Two rows of computers made a makeshift walkway to the main screen and a control panel with thousands of buttons she'd never bothered to figure out. There was no need for overhead lighting with so many bright screens. The workers manning the technology hardly looked up when she walked in. They were youths like her, but they were not her peers. Their power resided in their genius; each one incredibly gifted and able to use and manipulate systems with impressive speed. Her power resided in her DNA. Having a superpower, as she did, was not regarded as impressive, or even _good_. All the heroes had been driven out a long time ago. The techies wished she would have gone with them.

"What a timely arrival, Vane."

The voice that rumbled from the left was deep, a certain charm laced through it that Vane knew was deadly. Her eyes remained half-lidded despite the sudden jump of her heart, barely even turning her head as he approached from the shadowed corners of the room. She didn't move, not even to correct her slouch, for any sign of movement would be interpreted as weakness - though this hardly fazed her anymore. Working for years under Zephyr had taught her a couple things, including a valuable gem of information: you're only as weak as you seem.

"Show yourself."

Vane did so, to prove today's mission had been accomplished. Her naturally straight, brown hair had grown long since she had little time for a haircut. Instead of being secured high on the crown of her head in a ponytail, it hung loosely onto her shoulders and back except where she'd had a side-swept fringe cut in. For sentimental reasons she retained the red hair tie around her wrist. She wore a loose short-sleeve in dark grey that fell fashionably off one shoulder and revealed her hips. Her denim cut offs were a washed out shade of indigo. Lastly, she'd put on a new pair of classic, black Chuck Taylors, still white in the rubber.

"Not bad," was his only comment.

"Considering my mission for the day was to 'forget about the costume' and 'assimilate', I'd agree," Vane threw back casually.

The following glare tested her, but she held fast. The hum of computers and the tapping of fingers against keys felt like drills in her ears. The techies continued their mindless data work, no one brave enough to glance up while Zephyr and Vane exchanged words for fear one of them would glare in their direction. The seconds moved so slowly as his cold stare failed to break, until finally he stepped beside her and placed a threatening hand on one shoulder.

"You know how I am always pleased to listen to your unnecessary remarks, and pleased to return the favor in blows instead of words."

Her lip curled as she felt her body tense despite her efforts not to, a sassy remark fighting to escape her clenched teeth when the ceiling shook and a muffled screech resounded overhead. Vane didn't even have to look at him to know what she was expected to do, though she did anyway. His bored expression suggested she was dumb to think she wouldn't be investigating that disturbance. What the tech heads were jealous of, she didn't know. Although she was crucial to Zephyr's plots, she was still just a puppet and a toy like them. At least they didn't have to run around all day.

Her footsteps echoed down the hall as she ran, not even stopping to slap her palm against the wall for blood verification. As soon as the door had opened enough for her to slip through she did, and immediately continued her sprint through the sewers. The constant threat of slipping and falling into god knows what failed to slow her. Being a previous superhero, she had pretty good control of her body and besides, she had superpowers to back her up. The risk still made her stomach uneasy though.

Vane crawled out of the manhole to see a large behemoth made of cement backing down the street. Traffic was minimal today, but still shrieks of the public rang out as they fled. The sight was odd – there hadn't been villainous activity (above ground, anyway) in a while – but not unheard of. Straightening up she inhaled deeply. The air beneath her shot upward, taking with it the brown-haired girl. Vane rode the current up to the roof of the neighboring building and inched stealthily toward the edge to get a better look at the monster without being spotted.

A gasp escaped her, but it wasn't the large, roaring cement block that shocked her. Dancing around the creature were five teenagers. Not a single one was ordinary. One donned a red, green and yellow get up with a cape, and even a mask.

"Wow," Vane thought aloud, understanding why she had to 'assimilate'. "Those costumes really stand out, don't they?"

The boy was yelling something. Two girls responded to him, one with long red hair and a less than modest outfit and another with a sweeping blue cloak, although as she flew into the air it was revealed that her leotard made her show even more leg than both Vane and the red-haired girl.

A green human shifted into a dinosaur, which brought him up to almost eyelevel with the building's roof. Panicking Vane dove down and crawled behind an electric box. He hadn't spotted her. Her relief at this was short lived as a large half-man, half-robot sort of guy jumped on top of the dinosaur's head and begin blasting the hunk of cement monster with some sort of canon. Vane shook her head. What the hell just happened, and why was it happening today?

The huge monster lurched, crashing into an old monument and kicking a fire hydrant that began to spout water everywhere. It was then that Vane realized the danger. If that monster somehow started screwing with the water pipes and sewers and underground all would be lost and she, Zephyr, and everyone below would be royally screwed. She bit her lip and leapt to her feet, sprinting towards the edge of the building to follow the heavy monster as he stumbled and caused damage to her city. Pushing the air at her feet, she leapt across one building to the other and skidded to a stop.

The blows the five teens were landing on the monster were getting intense, and the monster was nearing defeat. He teetered for a moment and then lurched toward the ground.

Vane couldn't wait. With the wind beneath her under her control, she hovered out closer and threw her arms out, manipulating all the air under the beast as it fell. Her arms trembled with the effort; he was by far the heaviest thing she'd ever had to move. Praising that she lived in a coastal city, she lifted the monstrous being while the five below looked around to find out what was happening.

Grunting, she reared her arms back and flung them forward and the cement behemoth went soaring through the air. She guided him slightly until he was far enough over the nearby ocean, letting him down enough so that he wouldn't cause a giant tidal wave as he dropped and sank below the turbulent waves.

Vane sighed heavily as his screeches became garbled, pleased to be free from the strain of his gargantuan body. She returned to the building, feeling safer with both feet on a surface. Only now that the loudest thing in the city was gone could she hear the yells below.

"Did you just see what happened?"

"Who did that? Do you see anyone?"

"My friends, are you all okay?"

"Starfire, look over there! Raven, can you see anything?"

_Fantastic_, Vane thought as she sneered, and slowly began to back off. But the moment she moved, it seemed, everyone's eyes found with a predatory precision. Today she didn't waste time staring and playing tough. They had seen far too much of her, and now she needed to go – but they were all standing around Mario's Pizzeria, blocking her only way back down into the ground. Gritting her teeth she went on impulse, leaping to the sidewalk and sprinting left the moment her feet touched the ground. Their cries - "Hey!" "Stop!" "Who are you?" - died out as she put more and more distance between them and her.

Occasional flashes of color in her peripheral vision freaked Vane out, until she turned her head to see a billboard or a gaudy sign advertising eggs, two dozen for the price of one. The voices of the intruding superheroes were heard only in blips of conversation over her panic that didn't end until she reached the only other manhole in the city she knew how to navigate from. Lifting it up with a gust of wind, Vane leapt and slammed it over her, disappearing into the trusted darkness. The dirty lamps near the entrance gave her enough light to find the flashlight on the ground. With it in hand, she took off, formulating her report to Zephyr in her head.

Above ground, the five teens congregated nearby the origin of the strange girl.

"Did anyone really see her?" Robin asked, eyes narrowed.

Everyone responded negative, except Beast Boy.

"She had something red on her," he said quietly.

"Something red," Robin repeated. "Pretty vague. Doesn't really help us. Do you remember exactly what was red, Beast Boy?"

Robin looked hopefully at him, but the mutant shook his head sadly. Robin then turned to his team mates again.

"I've never seen anyone like her before. She didn't have any symbols or marks that would make her recognizable. Let's ask around, before we go. Just to make sure there isn't any trouble around here," the leader deduced.

Nearby public gawked, expressions varying between disgust and surprise and fear.

"Guess nobody was a Cinderblock fan here," Beast Boy remarked after catching the looks.

"Guess not," agreed Raven.

She and Robin turned on their heels and began to walk. The remaining three followed without hesitation.

Panting, Vane burst into the control room and leaned over to catch her breath.

"Contain yourself," Zephyr said immediately, his voice eerily calm. "I already know. Though, I appreciate your speed."

She looked up, closed her gaping mouth and stared at the screen where the costumed heroes walked past one of Zephyr's security cameras above ground. Breathing deeply, she straightened and crossed her arms across her chest.

"What do you want done about them? They're nosy," Vane growled, her gaze hard with disapproval of the superpowered kids in her city.

"Nothing yet." Zephyr's response surprised her. "If the public opinion still stands, they'll run them out on their own. You know how they hate your kind."

He turned slightly to meet her gaze, but Vane found herself unable to make eye contact. Furrowing her brow she instead glared at the laces on her shoes.

"Keep an eye on them. In fact, talk to them. Find out what they want. Fools like these superheroes who are so proud of their identity are always much too open about their intentions. I believe information will be very easy to come across."

Vane looked up and jammed her hands into her pockets, hardly believing that was actually what he wanted. "What if they recognize me?"

"Then you act like a stupid, oblivious girl who doesn't know what they are talking about." He spat back, gaze scathing.

The tech heads on either side of her could be heard tittering as she was berated. Vane silenced them with a glare, although she scuffed her shoes as well, always feeling slightly shameful when she got a mouthful of Zephyr's anger. Vane hesitated to respond – something which displeased her master.

"You are dismissed," he growled.

Unwilling to face any further abuse, Vane quickly walked out the door, leaving behind her bothered boss and a dozen geeks giggling.

**Thanks for reading :)**


	2. No Church in the Wild

[authors note]

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

This chapter is ridiculously long; I apologize. As always read and review :3 I adore encouragement.

Thanks!

**Update**: Chapter revised; May 2013

-ch two: no church in the wild-

"No."

Normally, one did not outright refuse orders. In fact, no one _ever_ did. When the higher up lackeys told the tech heads to do something, they did it without second thought. When Vane told the higher up lackeys to do something, they did it with perhaps a vengeful glare. When Zephyr told Vane to do something, she obliged with as little attitude as she possibly could. But not today. When the orders had come in that morning that she really would be seeking out the strange superheroes, something swelled within her chest. Perhaps a hormonal rage would've been the smartest thing to blame her irrational stomping down the hallway and into the control room, but in truth, that wasn't it. This anger was all _her own._

So there she should before her shadow-cloaked master, the silver of her stare just a sliver from beyond her narrowed eyes. His glare nearly stopped her from continuing, but it seemed her mouth was running much faster than her brain. She just couldn't believe he'd actually meant it. "No. I refuse. I'm not about to risk-"

"Risk what, Vane? I hope you're not worried about risking your own well-being. After all, this operation is like… like a family."

Zephyr's form in the shadows was vague, but hulking. His monologue voice was just as threatening and frightening as his normal voice, although there was something about the falsely sweetened tone that particularly made Vane shiver. Today, however, she was not about to have his harangue.

In the middle of his speech, she stomped her foot and spat, "Yeah, definitely! It's a real tight family down here. And I can't risk being recognized by those gaudy freaks if we want to keep the family _safe_. And-"

Without warning, the shape in the shadows sprung at her. In a moment of panic she stumbled away and ended up back against the wall. Without their voices all she could hear was that irritating clacking of keys, courtesy of the dozen techies. Zephyr hadn't come so close to her, at least not face-to-face, in so long that the very proximity of him caused a cold fear to fill her heart. With each frantic beat she could feel it spread through her veins, pooling in her fingertips and toes like she'd dipped them in liquid ice. There was a hair in her eye, but she was too frozen with terror to move. And even if she could, Vane wouldn't dare, not while Zephyr stared her down.

He stayed in the dark so often that she almost forgot what he looked like. Pale, of course, from lack of sunlight. The man lived down here along with the rest of them. She wasn't even sure he ever left. Out of the entire network, Vane was probably the only one who regularly left the sewers. He looked a little unkempt, perhaps, and she couldn't tell if it was purposeful or not. His dark hair was longer than she remembered it being, and it was a hot mess, but he kept it out of his steel blue eyes. His scruff was kept longer than it used to be, but then again with world domination on the agenda who had time for shaving? The shadows under his eyes were proof of his hard and constant work, and his broad shoulders and dominant stance only better played up the muscle she'd almost forgotten about. Doubtlessly, he was an intimidating man. So frightening was his very presence now that nobody dared laugh that the most important chess piece was being yelled at.

After a moment of deliberate silence he replied, "Looks like you'll take one for the team, then, if they find out who you are. And if they don't eliminate you – which they most likely won't until all the information has been wrung from your pathetic mind – I will."

It'd been a very long time since Vane saw his mouth move when he spoke. Rows of perfect teeth flashed when he spoke a syllable that pulled back his lips. She stared there, for fear of looking up into his eyes. Zephyr recognized fright and grasped her chin, pulling her head up so she would be forced to face him. The very cliché of his move would have bothered her, had she not been quaking in her Converse. She didn't raise her eyes to meet his.

"Look at me."

She couldn't.

"I said look." All gentleness in his fingers disappeared as he growled the last word, the pressure of his hold threatening to dislocate her jaw. Vane finally looked up, squinting as she fought back any signs of pain. Zephyr held her there for a moment, before relaxing his grip only enough that he wouldn't break anything. He maintained eye contact until he felt Vane was thoroughly uncomfortable. Finally he hissed, "Understood?"

"Yes," she responded hastily, waiting until he let go of her chin and turned around to tenderly touch the bruises along her jaw. Her cold gaze swept over all of the tech heads to see if anyone had relished her punishment, but they all seemed thoroughly tuned in to their headsets and screens. The sound of retreating footsteps brought her attention back to Zephyr, who silently stalked into the shadows once more. She held her breath, waiting for instruction.

"As I _clearly_ stated before: you are to seek out these heroes. And you are to be civil, nice, _fascinated. _Be that vapid, obnoxious sixteen-year-old girl you so desperately wish to be."

Vane bristled as he gave his rendition of her, though she didn't dare talk back. Not this time. "Yes, sir." She turned away and made her way toward the exit, feeling the stares of all the tech heads like cruel heat on her back. As she reached the door, she turned her head slightly and swept her gaze up and down the two aisles. Nobody looked back at her, except a small blonde girl about her age, wearing glasses. Vane almost mistook it for an accidental glance, until she heard a faint _ha-ha_. She swung her head in time to catch the remainder of a smirk on the girl's face. Bristling, Vane turned away, and as she swung the door open a peculiar gust of wind blasted from the hallway and sent the blonde girl flying up out of her seat, into the wall, and crashing back to the ground.

Sneering, Vane stepped through the doorway. "Ha, ha."

Vane swaggered down the sidewalk as though MIA were playing in her head, though she was pretty much the only teenager without earphones on the street.

Unlike most above-ground missions, she was finding it incredibly difficult to play it cool as she meandered down the street. Who could blame her? She had nowhere to start searching for those five nuisances. Frowning, she watched her feet as they took her further away from the manhole and into the city. While she drowned in the possibilities Vane disengaged from reality, until a purple and silver boot stomped on her foot and a girly voice insisted, "Sorry!" She glanced up and saw a streak of shiny red hair disappear, going the opposite way she was. Vane looked over her shoulder just in time to see the five of them disappear into Mario's Pizzeria.

Despite her orders, Vane continued walking, swallowing her embarrassment and trying to look inconspicuous. She'd been hoping that she could perhaps come up with a few lines of dialogue before she found them, much less approached him, but that idea flew right out the proverbial window. Of course they would decide to grab a slice at the pizza house that just happened to be directly next door to the manhole that led her to the underground operation. Luck always seemed to favor her like that, didn't it? Vane didn't doubt that Zephyr had seen her mistake. He had hacked into every traffic camera on the city and her little blunder had been caught on at least two. Turning back toward the pizzeria, Vane straightened her back and tried to evoke a sense of pride in her chest again. She'd been subject to too much embarrassment lately – this time it'd be different.

With a gentle tug and a small smile Vane walked into the pizzeria. The bell that announced her gave her the lady at the counter's attention, but she just smiled back and pointed aimlessly towards the heroes, who were munching too vigorously to notice. The counter lady then gave her a curious, almost distasteful look. _Figures_, Vane thought as she sidled up to their table, pulled over a chair and invited herself into an empty space.

Almost immediately they stopped eating and each fixed her with a confused expression. She responded by looking at each one in return before smiling sheepishly and making a vague motion toward the pizza. "Don't let me interrupt you. I can wait."

The half robot and the green human immediately went back to gorging themselves while the two girls and the masked one continued looking at her blankly. "Exactly what are you waiting for?" He asked her.

Vane half-smiled to cover up her lack of immediate answer and then said, "For me to introduce myself, clearly. I don't know if you've noticed, but you're sort of a rarity around here. And I'm sort of curious. But I'll let you eat first."

The red head munched tentatively after she spoke, although both the really pale girl and the leader continued to stare. Finally, the leader raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat. "Uh… that's surprising. Most of the people we've met weren't exactly as friendly as you." He motioned discretely behind them. Vane took a peek, and caught the glares of a few other customers.

"Yeah, we're not exactly fans of superheroes here," Vane explained with a small shrug. "Causes a lot of city damage and some of you tend to get big egos and what not. But that's mostly just the older generation now. Still, you guys don't come around here often. It's been a really long time since we've seen something out of the ordinary."

By the time Vane was finished talking, the other boys had finished eating, and now all five of them stared her down and she realized she needed to say something else.

"I'm Vane. And you all are…?"

"Robin," the leader introduced himself. "Nice to meet you." Professional, but cordial. Vane nodded and looked down the line to the red-head.

"I am Starfire," she announced, smiling brightly. There was a bubbly, pleasant air that surrounded her. She had a voice that was sickly-sweet and paired with her foreign mannerisms it almost grated against her skin. Up close, Vane could see she was either an alien or a mutant. She would have to consult the files later.

"Raven," the next girl said, her voice monotonous and not particularly eager. Her hood was down at the moment, revealing a head purple hair that was shorter in the back than in the front. Vane nodded briefly, moving on as quickly as her introduction had been.

"Beast Boy!" the green one offered quickly, just as happy as Starfire had been to introduce himself. His voice was sort of high, but Vane was not one to judge… kind of. She grinned, though, admiring his kindness to a total stranger.

Finally she looked at the largest one. It sort of bothered her that she still had to look up to him despite the fact that she was sitting. "I'm Cyborg," he said, keeping a happy medium between politeness and exuberance. "We're the Teen Titans."

Vane smiled generally at the group, adding a little filler dialogue of, "Cool, cool" before launching back into questions. "So do you all like… have superpowers? Or is one of you kind of just a groupie."

She knew it was the right question to ask when everyone's expression got a little bit offended. But Vane was more than happy to play dumb, and instead of reacting to the change of face she kept smilin' on, looking expectant and clueless just as Zephyr had commanded.

"We all have powers, except for me," Robin said finally, while the others released their breath and either went on to twiddle with their straws or fingers. Vane kept her eyes on Robin's, though, tilting her head in interest. "They're hard to explain, so I guess you'll just have to see them in action."

"Pretty nifty," Vane jumped quickly on the brief moment of silence when Robin finished speaking. "Are you guys staying long?"

This time there was less hesitation, as though they'd accepted her as just an odd one out in an unfriendly city. Robin continued to speak for them, what with the others having gotten lost in their own thoughts. "We're not sure," he said. "We followed Cinderblock into this city after we chased him out of our own. Cinderblock normally isn't seen without the help of a villain named Slade, so we were planning on searching the city for him, or any other disturbances, and then we'll most likely just leave."

Vane's smile remained plastered on her face; although she dug her fingernails into the piece of cardboard she was playing with. She looked up and slowly offered, "I'm not sure how much the people will like you guys poking around the city."

"We've taken that into account," Robin responded with a proud tone, as though he'd foreseen her worry and had a response handy to eradicate it. "I'm sure once the people understand we're only trying to help, they won't mind if we take a look around. In fact, they might even appreciate it."

Although Vane's natural instinct was to leap over the table and punch that stupid spiky-haired guy in the face, she repressed the reaction and went back to clenching that piece of cardboard like it was his throat. "Huh. Sounds helpful. What happens if you find something?"

It seemed as though she hadn't posed the question innocently enough. Raven, who had been sitting and scowling with her arms crossed tightly over her chest, raised a nonchalant eyebrow and stared her down with her cold and uncaring eyes. "Why?" she asked boredly, "have you seen anything?"

Vane shook her head. "No," she said, but before she could offer an explanation to her question, Cyborg jumped in.

"Have you heard anything?" He asked.

She shook her head and raised an open palm, hoping the gesture would slow them down enough for her to regroup. When all five of them got a look at it, she slowly put her hand back in her lap and huffed. "No, I was only asking because I don't want there to be one. So, if there was, what would you do? Would you fight it and potentially destroy our city? Would you force us to abandon our homes?" Vane fixed Robin with a dark glare. "I'm not really keen on leaving. I'm in the middle of school. I don't want to move someplace far away and start over."

Robin had the decency to look a little ashamed. "Normally when we defeat monsters and villains we do it with minimum damage. Nobody has to evacuate and we work in good time."

Vane pursed her lips like she didn't believe him while she silently crumpled the shreds of cardboard that were left in her hand. "Okay, I guess. I haven't seen a villain or a hero around here in forever. I almost forgot how it works, until yesterday. Hopefully, though, you won't find anything so I won't see you in action." She propped her elbow on the table and laid her head in her hand, sighing, "That's a shame though. Bittersweet, right?"

Robin led the team in an unenthusiastic chorus of "right"s.

Vane got up and gathered herself while saying, "I think I've interrupted your mealtime long enough. If I need you I'll be sure to look for you. I'll probably come up with more questions to ask but, yeah. See you around, Robin, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg."

After spitting out that mouthful of names, Vane turned and began to saunter away, holding the belt loops of her cutoffs with her thumbs. As she turned away she heard someone mutter something, "Wait. There's a red hair tie on her wrist. I think that's _her._"

Vane recognized the voice could only be Beast Boy's. As she held the door open for herself she made the mistake of looking back. Perhaps they would ignore him. A red hair tie shouldn't be enough to go after someone, right? But over her shoulder she saw they had all stood up, their eyes scrutinizing her carefully. She couldn't risk them watching where she went. For the first time when she looked at them she didn't smile something pretty. In fact, she didn't give them any look at all. Vane turned away quickly and began away at a sprint.

This time, the Teen Titans were not too far behind.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think :)**


	3. Through Crooked Teeth

[authors note]

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

I'm starting to really enjoy writing this fanfic. I hope you guys really enjoy reading it, too. Please review! It only takes a few seconds and it's really thoughtful if you do :]

Thanks!

**Update**: Chapter revised; May 2013

-ch three: through crooked teeth-

In retrospect she probably should have used a fake name. She'd assumed there were no repercussions – after all, _Vane_ didn't really exist – but now she had to listen to them fling her name around as if it would make her any more willing to "Stop!" or "Come back!" With the aid of her wind powers she sprinted as quickly as she could, but it was tiresome. She couldn't risk ending up at their mercy with no strength at all. _With all five of them trailing me there's no way I can lose them again_, she realized as a bolt of green energy nearly tripped her up.

Swallowing her fear she whipped around suddenly, turning to face her pursuers. Robin ran straight at her with Cyborg just moments behind. Raven and Starfire were flying toward her from opposite sides, their hands cloaked in green or black energy. Four-on-one odds, yeah, _that_ was in her favor. Wait, where was Beast Boy?

He announced his arrival with a terrifying shriek that gave Vane just enough time to duck and narrowly miss being scooped up by pterodactyl claws.

"Hell no," Vane growled. "I didn't sign up for _Jurassic Park_." Her disdain didn't only extend towards the dinosaur attack. She couldn't fight here- not in the middle of the city where she risked being seen and recognized. As she jumped out of the way of a green blast and twisted to avoid blue cannon fire, Vane realized the only way she could survive so badly outnumbered was to take the fight somewhere better for her. A curious smile then appeared on her face as she let the Titans come close enough and then began to run away again – this time a little slower.

"After her!" Robin commanded, prompting her to smile wider. They wasted no time in taking bait, now, did they?

Vane led them directly to the coast, stopping just before the water's edge. She pivoted on her heel in the sand and faced them with a sick little grin. Before they got too close she threw her arms in the air and created a turbulent wall of wind that kicked up the sand all around it. A shriek from Beast Boy confirmed he hadn't been quick enough to close his eyes, but Raven put a black shield up in front of her and Starfire, and Robin and Cyborg had turned their heads away while they tried to think of a way to combat the sandstorm.

A harder funnel of wind peeled off from the wall of wind and knocked Raven to the ground, to which Starfire yelped, "Friend, are you okay?" and flew to her aid.

Cyborg's cannon fire started again. She used her power to block most of the attacks, narrowly escaping being hit a few times, distracted by maintaining coordinates on all of her attackers. Raven and Starfire were getting back up, Cyborg was still shooting and missing, Beast Boy was coming to and… Robin.

"Shit," she cursed as _someone's_ knee collided with her back. She used the wind to spin her so she would land on her back, throwing a kick that Robin blocked with his arms as she landed in the sand.

For a brief moment she giggled and raised one hand, wiggling her fingers in childish greeting. Finding no amusement in her game, Robin reached behind him and retrieved his bow staff from his belt and brought it down overhead. The end of the staff collided with the depression in the sand. When he looked up Vane's fist nearly caught him in the jaw.

"You did know something," he growled accusingly as he dodged her attempt, swiping one leg out to her own feet out from under her. Vane jumped over this attack and narrowly avoided the follow up aimed for her stomach.

"Oh certainly not," she responded cheekily, grinning until something struck her side with enough force to knock her into the air. The blue flash of light in the corner of her eye let her know Cyborg was to blame. As she flew over the water struggled for air, having had the wind knocked out of her by his cannon. Just before she went under, Vane drew her whole body in and surrounded herself with currents of air. Then she fell into the water, encased by a bubble to breathe in.

Before she could formulate a plan, something leapt into the water after her. As the small person transformed into a monstrous (of course, green) squid, she stared blankly. Vane had not fought against other supers in such a long time. Her incompetence frustrated her beyond belief. Where was her exit now, when she really needed it? Vane tried to suppress her panic as Beast Squid loomed closer and closer. Once again she'd lost control of the situation. Anger and fear widened her grey eyes as she did the only thing she could think of and propelled herself past the green squid, toward land, toward a getaway.

But Beast Squid wasn't about to have her escape. His tentacles snaked towards her and grabbed her air bubble, squeezing hard. Taken by surprise, Vane's concentration broke and the water she'd tried to keep away came rushing for her. She tried to hold her breath but the water had already seeped in to her unprepared nose. Pain radiated from her chest as she drew her hands in toward her mouth, desperate not to drown. Upon realizing what he'd done, Beast Boy wrapped a tentacle around her and lifted her out of the water, squeezing on her chest until she coughed up the offending water in her body. Her heart beat intensely, and for a moment she was too dizzy to think. She felt a breeze like she was being carried and closed her eyes to rest.

Beast Boy carried her up until the beach, where she was handed off to Robin. Consciousness was slowly returning to her but she pretended it wasn't and rested as a dead weight in the Leader's grasp. He was surprisingly gentle as he held her. Zephyr was right. They were open and heroic fools to hold an enemy so casually.

"We got her!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Alright!" chimed in Cyborg and Starfire.

"What do we do with her now?" Raven asked, putting aside the victory and focusing on the work ahead.

Vane felt Robin's body shift as he turned his head to look at Raven. Before he could reveal his plan Vane grabbed him and pushed his body away from hers. Immediately she surrounded her body with air currents and lifted up and away from the Teen Titans. Vane didn't have a moment to spare waiting to hear what they were doing next. Their distraction would only hinder them so long and she had to get out of there, fast.

"She can fly?!" Beast Boy's astounded voice sounded from below.

It wasn't flying, but it was certainly close enough. She'd hoped to keep it her secret weapon, but desperation drove her to reveal her power. With all the strength she had she sped away before her energy depleted and she became grounded. Vane flew down the beach and around the perimeter of the city to avoid being spotted. Flying had dried her hair and clothes so when she finally touched down again she left no footprints for them to track.

As she reached the inner city, Vane took the back alleys to find her way behind Mario's Pizzeria. Before dropping down into the manhole she crouched behind the dumpster to catch her breath. That'd been more eventful than she'd hoped it to be. Part of her dearly wanted to chew Zephyr out for putting her in that situation, but she was much too tired. _And worst of all, now I can't go back in to Mario's for a slice! _Vane half-grinned at her wry attempt at humor and then disappeared from the alley.

Robin ran his fingers through his hair and sighed in exasperation.

"I hear you," Cyborg growled after him. The entire team was frustrated by the disappearance of Vane once again.

"Dude! She's better at running away than she is at fighting. Shouldn't that make it easier for us?" Beast Boy whined, coming out of the water and trudging onto the empty beach.

"That would be the case if she wasn't so good at running away." Raven responded, touching down on the ground after she flew over with Starfire's help. She couldn't keep the bite out of her voice. This girl was really frustrating her as well.

"Why are we pursuing her, though?" Starfire piped up. "I have not seen her do harm against us, except when we went after her."

"Don't you think she's suspicious?" Robin addressed the alien girl. Star pondered it over and then nodded slowly. "That's why. Alright, let's think about it."

"Detailed description," Robin started with, trying to pool together all the information they had on the enigmatic girl. Without hesitation, the team jumped to and fired off whatever they could.

"Jean shorts," Raven contributed.

"Long brown hair," Starfire added.

"Grey shirt, red hair tie." Cyborg said.

After a thoughtful pause, Beast Boy added, "Those shoes that like everyone has. Black. They're like… uh…"

"You don't know what Converse are?" Raven droned, raising an eyebrow at his blunder. Beast Boy simply shrugged off her look, as though shoes were really all that important.

"Powers?" Robin asked next, ignoring their banter.

"Air… or wind… or something," Raven said.

"But she can fly," Starfire said, to which BB nodded.

"No," Robin interjected suddenly. "She was still just controlling air. I think you're right, Raven."

"Makes sense," Raven nodded along.

"Where does she stay? Where can we find her?" Robin asked next, but everyone held their silence. He looked around the group, one by one. But Raven's indigo eyes were blank, as were Starfire's emerald green eyes. Cyborg folded his arms moodily and snorted.

"And she said she would look for us," He said. "Where do we begin to look for her?"

All four turned to look at their leader for instructions. He took a minute before he faced his worried comrades, hating to disappoint them. "I don't know at all."

Silence.

"If only we had a dog whistle or something so we could lure her out," BB attempted to lighten the mood.

"Dog whistles only work on you, provided you're in the right form," Raven retorted, while Star and Cyborg shared quiet chuckles at their banter. Robin didn't join their actions, instead putting his head down in thought.

Suddenly, his head snapped up. "No, that's a good idea." He began to pace as his thoughts began to expand. "If, somehow, we could lure her out..."

"Yeah, but how do we do that?" BB asked, trying to further his own idea.

A dark chuckle sounded, and everyone turned to look at Raven. The cloaked girl beckoned her team mates with a finger, and they obliged and shifted closer. A personal vendetta seemed to have formed since Vane had bitch-slapped her with a tornado funnel earlier on. She grinned something slightly twisted.

"Leave that to me."

* * *

**Thank you for reading :)**


	4. Baited Trails

[authors note]

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

I actually have very little to say. Please review!

Thanks!

**Update:** Chapter revised; May 2013

-ch four: baited trails-

In her rare instances of free time Vane was almost always exhausted, but she didn't quite find the enjoyment she would've liked to out of laying in her bed. The ceiling above her in her quarters was ugly, a horrible marred grey that reminded her she was literally living in a sewer. The walls in her room were the same cement, but painted white – only because she had stolen the paint and done it herself. Vane wasn't sure if it looking nicer actually boosted her morale or if that was just something to make her forget she was hanging out in the dumping grounds.

A rug covered up most of the dirty ground, replacing the eyesore with a blue-and-white paisley pattern. It matched the blue linens on her twin-sized bed. At one corner of the room there was a desk with many drawers, with many papers and files currently splayed out on its surface. A cup of pens and a desk lamp sat off to the side. On the other end of her room was a dreadful, but functional bathroom. While it certainly wasn't a place of luxury, it wasn't a cot in the sleeping barracks where the techies stayed, so that much she could appreciate.

With a little grimace Vane decided she'd spent enough time stretched out across her bed. She rolled to her stomach and sighed a farewell into one of her pillows and got out of her lazy state. She approached her desk unenthusiastically and sat down in the office chair, skimming over the files of information Zephyr had gathered since the last time she'd seen the Titans. It'd been at least three days according to the calendar (theme: Sight-seeing in Red City) that hung on the wall. Her boss had been slightly AWOL since she'd returned from her last trip above ground. The techies had said he'd stormed out after she ran the second time, although she knew better than to believe that. They were always trying to intimidate her, those irritating little bugs.

She picked a highlighter out from one of the drawers and returned her attention to the document she'd left off on. _Raven_, said the title.

"Hhrm. Telekinesis. That's not at all a Vane-friendly power," she muttered to herself, brow furrowing. Lifting and throwing with the mind required more concentration but less physical energy than maneuvering the wind to do it for her. She pondered her disadvantage, and quietly highlighted the sentence regarding Raven's abilities.

Someone walked in. Vane raised her eyebrows before she looked up, assuming it would be a messenger with some more orders, but she was surprised to see Zephyr standing in the door frame. He hardly fit, being such a tall, strong man, and the sight was rather comical. Vane knew better than to laugh now.

After a moment of hesitation she capped the highlighter and swiveled her chair to face him. She drummed the yellow marker against her fingertips nervously and looked off to the side as she prompted, "What can I do for you?"

"That's a good girl," he responded immediately, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him.

Vane watched him warily, placing the highlighter down on her desk. Slowly Zephyr leaned against the door, folding his arms and staring ahead at the opposite wall. She blinked, uncertain as to why he paid a visit. Finally, she opened her mouth, but Zephyr spoke before her.

"I've given it some thought," he started slowly. "And perhaps you were right. These Titans are… nosy. Very nosy."

"Kill them?" She guessed.

"Capture them," he corrected.

Vane frowned. "Why? What would we get from an alien, a shapeshifter, a human machine, a witch and a karate kid?"

"Information on Jump City," he said smoothly, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face that suggested a deeper meaning that she wouldn't get. When Vane raised an eyebrow, he continued. "Seems you haven't gotten to the part about their origins. They come from all over – inter-dimensions, outer space, whatever – but they are the protectors of Jump City."

"If they're so close, why don't we see supers or villains or monsters more often?" Vane replied.

"Because this city hates your kind so damn much."

Vane didn't wince at his blow, only wrinkling her nose slightly, as if she needed a reminder. She sighed, shook her head and fixed Zephyr with a tired stare. She wasn't surprised to see him match her look. "So, what? You want them captured. All at once? Two at a time, one? Any specific order?"

His smile returned, though this time with a more cruel edge. "Raven first. She's too practical. We need a thinker out of the team. Then Cyborg. Too much strength. Starfire can go next, to give you a break. Then Beast Boy, so you can have some fun. And finally…"

Vane narrowed her eyes. "Why do you want the leader to go last? If we cut the head off first-"

She was interrupted swiftly. "Because you'll have your fun taking out those four. But I want to have my fun, and watch you face off against Robin."

Vane pretended not to be hurt by his remark and tore her gaze away from him. She wanted to pursue the question further, but she wasn't willing to jeopardize his good mood, so she shut her mouth and instead fingered the corner of the file regarding the Titans' backstory. She felt his eyes on her back as she fiddled with the paper, and suddenly it became a little suspicious. Why was he still here? What was so important about them?

She worked up the courage to prompt, "When we take over this city, what do we do next?"

His answer was surprisingly quick. "We take over the next."

"Jump City," she whispered, pleased with herself for catching on. He didn't want the Titans out of Red City, but their home town. She turned to look at Zephyr again.

"I have bigger plans than just this." He said calmly, steel-blue eyes locked into hers.

"What about me? Am I part of it all?"

He sighed and pushed his back away from the door. "I'll see."

Before she could get indignant about his vague response, he opened the door and left just as smoothly as he came. He was just being an ass, anyway. She was seventeen, almost a legal adult, physically capable and clever enough to survive. It's not like Vane had anywhere else to go than here, and besides, she wasn't useless to him.

Vane decided not to waste any more time going over their cryptic conversation bits and returned her focus t digging up dirt on these Teen Titans.

"I think we're good to go, right?" Robin asked, setting up a small bomb on the street corner of Mario's Pizzeria. It was the first place they'd spotted her, so a they'd decided a problem close to home would most likely bring her out of the dark. Once she was spotted, Robin was to set off another bomb down the street into a larger alley with a smaller exit. There, she would be ambushed. He smiled proudly and opened the door for Raven. Inside the pizzeria, she would keep watch and make sure Vane took the bait. The owners of the establishment had wanted nothing to do with their plot, but once they were informed the Titans would go with the plan regardless of their cooperation they decided it was better for business if they just closed the shop while their shenanigans went on.

The dark girl nodded, and silently the rest of the team took off. Starfire took a second watch point on top of a building further down the road. "I will send the signal when she has been seen," she assured her three team mates as they reached their respective positions.

When everyone was ready, Robin hit the timer and the first bomb went off.

Vane had just barely opened the door to the control room when the ceiling shook again. She sighed loudly, rolling her eyes and closing the door. Without having to look at him, she knew her boss needed her to go investigate those damn Titans and what they were doing above ground. When she got to the ladder that lead up to the manhole she stopped and narrowed her eyes. Why was she smelling smoke? Nervous, she used her power to float her upward and gingerly lifted the manhole cover in case it wasn't safe to go above ground. Of course when she did she couldn't see a damn thing. Vane bit her lip, knowing there was nothing she could do, and slowly slipped into the smoke and used it as her cover. She landed quietly on the ground and waited for something to happen to her, but nothing did.

Air currents propelled her to the top of the dumpster nearby, allowing her access to the next alley over. Vane wasn't stupid, but she was wary. As she leapt over the fence separating her from the alley, she sneaked a peak into the Pizzeria, which was closed rather early for the evening. Her eyes narrowed and she picked out a form – dark blue, long, sweeping… cloak.

Her eyes widened and then narrowed as she pushed herself against the wall of the alley and growled. Honestly, a set up? Had she honestly seemed so careless the last time they met that she would fall for that sort of thing? Of course, Vane recognized as an afterthought that she hadn't quite been on her A game for their first encounter. No matter – they were underestimating her and she could use that to her advantage.

Vane silently opened the back door to Mario's, stealing their play for the element of surprise. Zephyr would be proud if she brought back Raven today… and if she got the cloaked girl alone, Vane was sure she could. First order of business: cut off connection to the rest of the team. A sudden, small breeze of wind would take the yellow Titans communicator right off of Raven's belt and would deposit it gently in Vane's open palm. She pocketed it with a silent care.

Raven didn't mind the strange draft that brushed passed her legs. It was obnoxiously warm inside the establishment. She glanced around briefly for an open window. Perhaps if it was close enough that she could remain inconspicuous, she would move closer to it and hope for more breezes.

Except she couldn't spot any open windows. In fact, there were no such windows that could be opened. Her indigo eyes widened, and suddenly all the lock on the door clicked shut and the shutters went down.

One set of lights flickered on, shining light a spotlight in the darkness of the restaurant. Beneath it stood Vane. Her chocolate hair shimmered as she tilted her head, uncrossing her thin arms and smiling wolfishly. "Hello, Raven."

The girl whirled around so quickly that the hood of her cloak flew off, revealing her violet hair and an angry stare. Vane's grin grew as Raven refused to return her banter and instead reached for her communicator. She could see the exact moment the girl realized she didn't have it any more, a little panic etching its way into the fine points of her otherwise still angry expression.

"No, I'm feeling rather selfish tonight." Vane grinned, a spiral of wind beginning around the perimeter of the store. "It's going to be just you and me in here."

"That's fine," snapped Raven, "I can take you on my own."

Several forks suddenly levitated, surrounded by dark matter. Vane nodded, body grooving along with the bob of her head. "Nice, nice. I like a girl with confidence, you know?"

"Shut up!" Raven snapped.

Like little torpedoes, the forks sped forward.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**


	5. Two Birds, One Toaster

[authors note]

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

I just wanna thank everyone that's reviewed so far. It means loads upon loads upon loads to me! I've been a little slow in my production time lately, but I'm hoping that'll be fixed by a good mental health day x3

Thanks!

**Update**: Chapter revised; May 2013

-ch five: two birds, one toaster-

_Clang_ was the sound the fork made as it hit the window. _Cling_, as it hit a table. And _whoosh_ as Vane drew up a gust of wind to block the hurled eating utensils from doing any damage to her.

Determined to wipe the cocky grin off of the villainous girl's face, Raven uprooted a bar stool and flung it towards her. A burst of air slowed it enough for Vane to catch it, quickly utilizing it as a bat to knock away the second barstool back toward Raven.

The cloaked girl caught it but barely, rocking back as the wind was knocked out of her. Vane reached over to the nearest table immediately and grabbed the first thing she could find – a salt shaker – and threw it at Raven's feet. Just as she'd wanted her to, Raven jumped to avoid being hit by Vane's attack and stumbled further backwards.

As Vane advanced the Titan threw the bar stool into the funnel of wind that surrounded them, not watching as it got carried off. "Who are you?" She demanded, hoping for a monologue.

Vane only shrugged. Without warning the barstool launched from the surrounding funnel like it'd been expelled from a real tornado and slammed into Raven with more force than either of them had anticipated. The Titan fell gracelessly on to the tiled floor.

The brunette watched her carefully, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "That's a redundant question. You know who I am," she said after a moment. "And I know who you are."

The funnel of air suddenly closed in, passing Vane without effect but quickly nearing the Titan as she tried to get up. The roaring winds picked up forks from the floor, the two barstools, and assorted pieces left around. Coffee cups, napkins, salt and pepper shakers and artificial sweetener packets joined the frenzy around the witch girl while she squinted and tried to see.

Raven grabbed random objects with her dark energy and flung them back at Vane, but paper towel and packets of powdered coffee cream weren't going to faze her. She sidestepped the nuisances as they came, focusing her energy into the funnel. She moved her arms out, the band of wind getting wider and wilder, and then slowly began to bring her arms back in.

"Why are you doing this?" Raven shouted over the snarl of the funnel, lifting up her arms to block the wind from her eyes.

"No reason," Vane replied as though it were that simple. "You're not claustrophobic, are you?" She laughed quietly to herself. A separate breeze of wind opened the industrial sized pizza oven. _Good size for a person_…

Raven, unable to see, had grown more than frustrated. She snarled, "I knew you were bad news the moment you started running out that door. Couldn't stay to fight, could you?"

Vane bristled, though she quickly smoothed out her smile. "I just wanted a little time to get to know you, to get to know… your _weaknesses_." Raven remained silent. "Yeah, that's right. I do my research. Seems I'm at an advantage. Perhaps, though, I'll let you go and raid your pretty little T-shaped headquarters while you all search for me like mindless sheep. Maybe I'll stumble across some deep, dark, dirty secrets in your diary while you're away. Who knows what I could do?"

"Your talk is pointless," Raven roared, her rage launching one of the barstools from out of the cyclone. Vane blocked it with ease.

"My talk is pointless?" The wind-changer parroted innocently. "Why? I like to talk. I like to express myself. Do you?"

"Don't play games with me, Vane," Raven threatened, trying to hurtle the second barstool at her aggressor with no avail.

"But games are so much _fun_," she insisted, her tone sweetened with falsehood. "You don't like to have fun, Raven?"

"Shut up!" The Titan demanded again, raising her hands to her head as if to physically block out the noise.

A devilish grin appeared on her jaw as Vane noticed the girl's dwindling patience. "Why? Are you getting angry? Ooh, come on, get angry with me now. I want to see what the bastard daughter of a _demon _is capable of." For once, there was no response. Vane frowned and prayed she hadn't lost all she was working for. "I mean, if you are capable of _anything_."

Suddenly, black tentacles began to squirm out from underneath the funnel. Raven's body elongated up to the ceiling of the establishment. As her head peaked above the funnel, she stared down Vane with two sets of slanted, gleaming red eyes. Vane bit her lip, smiling slightly.

"Hello, sandman," she cooed, heightening and strengthening her funnel of wind to contain the demon girl as she was unleashed. "What took you so long?"

"I warned you. I told you to shut up. Now pay the consequences," the demon girl hissed, her voice echoing darkly. Without warning she burst through the funnel of wind. Vane eradicated it, not wasting her strength on something that didn't work. Slowly she moved backwards, never once taking her steel-colored stare off of the wild thing that'd appeared. The reports had indicated a feral type of strength and impulsive actions when Raven was in this state. As long as Vane continued to think rationally, she could have this one in the bag.

"Consequences?" Vane snorted, backing up while Raven loomed nearer. "You've got to catch me if you want there to be consequences."

Wrong thing to say, apparently. Three slithering tentacles shot from underneath Raven's cloak towards Vane. She made a small, powerful funnel of wind to carry away the first and similarly funneled away the second, but the third one bypassed her powers and whipped across her face, sending Vane tumbling into the countertop. As another tentacle aimed to grab her, she hauled her body over the island and crouched down on the tiled floor behind the bar.

Vane held still and listened as Raven approached, her voice growing louder as she got closer. "I've had enough of cocky, one trick villains who want to mess with the world just because they have nothing better to do," she roared, that demonic echo eerily following her every syllable. "I won't deal with it again."

From her hiding place she giggled and called out, "Come now, that's insulting. I assure you I'm _one of a kind._"

The tentacles, as though they had minds of their own, continued grabbing silverware and chucking the sharp ends toward the place where Vane hid. Then the witch did something which nearly floored Vane, leaving her in a moment of baffled silence. It wasn't much; in fact, she could've easily not noticed it at all. But as the witch continued closer, mumbling angrily under her breath, Vane heard her hiss one name: "_Terra_."

If she had time she would've contemplated that a little more, but the demon's shadow was practically on top of her. Summoning up a stupid courage she jumped up from behind the counter, leaping forward and with one swooping motion grabbing Raven by the front of her cloak. The physical contact surprised and enraged Raven, but the delay was long enough. Vane twisted her body and with all her might and powers propelled the witch into the pizza oven. She slammed the door shut.

The girl in the oven thrashed and screeched, destroying the metal shelves inside. "How dare you? How dare you?" She screamed on repeat.

Vane placed her hands on the window of the oven as though she was only watching, but ever so slowly she began to force the air out of the oven. Her mind searched for a distraction to keep the Titan from realizing her air supply was depleting. Luckily, she had one that was still sticking out sorely in her mind.

"I knew Terra," she said simply. Suddenly those awful red eyes appeared at the oven window, and Vane knew she'd caught her attention. Vane continued, each word slow and deliberate and teeming with disgust. "I remember. That earth shaker – she could've been something. If only she had any control over herself and her powers. Of course, she had to go off and be stupid and _heroic_." Vane spat the very word. "And now she's a statue. How pathetic."

Raven opened her mouth to snarl, but as she did so, she realized there was nothing to inhale. The Titan began to gasp and choke, writhing as she struggled to find a way to fill her empty lungs. A thin smile appeared on Vane's face as the four red eyes disappeared with a blink and a panicked Titan stared at her, before the lack of oxygen took her and she fell over. Immediately Vane wrenched open the oven door and air rushed back in. The point was never for her to die.

The battle was over, but she still had to move the body. _Ugh_, she tried not to imagine how awful it was going to be dragging the girl's dead weight through the sewers. Maybe she'd have to use her powers to get her all the way, though she'd prefer not to. That fight had taken quite a bit of her energy.

Just as Vane had dragged the Titan out of the oven and on to the ground, the door knob began to move. She froze in place, eyes widening as she whipped around to stare at the brass fixture.

"Raven?" Someone called from outside.

Thinking fast, Vane left Raven lying behind the counter and flew toward the door. Quietly she flipped a table and positioned it a little ways off from the front door.

"Can you unlock the door?" the voice called again. Now that she was closer Vane could recognize it was Cyborg.

Vane panicked; she needed to act quickly before more of them came knocking. She reached forward and unlocked the door and then scrambled to her hiding place.

"Thanks," Cyborg said over the bell ringing as he walked through. He closed the door behind him and then actually focused on the sight before him. His face fell into confusion and he stepped further in to the restaurant, commenting, "Dang, what happened here?"

Vane's eyes searched the floor wildly for something, anything she could use against him. If he kept walking in to the store he'd soon be able to see her hiding behind the table – not really an advantageous position to be in. Nearby, something large and shiny grabbed her attention. Sitting next to a chair was a banged-up white toaster. Nervously she looked between the appliance and the Titan, who was mumbling to himself as he surveyed the damage. _Well… _His hand began to move toward his communicator.

The decision made for her, Vane seized her chance. She sprang from her hiding place, grabbed the toaster and launched it as hard as she could toward the back of Cyborg's head. Metal hit metal with an odd sounding _clonk. _As the toaster tumbled to the ground the huge teen slowly teetered forward and then followed suit, landing on the ground with a solid-sounding thud.

Vane stood up, her wind-whipped hair all over her face as she assumed a fighting position. She waited a few seconds, but no movement followed his descent. Slowly she straightened her back and took a tentative step forward.

"Wait… really?" she remarked, in disbelief that one well aimed toaster could have eliminated her entire previous struggle.

Hesitantly she edged forward toward the hulking teen as he lay out-cold on the tiled floor. Vane quickly removed him of his yellow communicator, but eyed the control panel on his arm uneasily. "There's probably something in there that needs to be cut off," she murmured as she poked around the rest of him for any other hidden secrets. When she found him clean she straightened up and sighed. The techies would take care of the wiring, but how the hell was she supposed to get _two _Titans back to the underground keep?

With her adrenaline wearing off Vane felt the wear of her battle worse than before. Sighing, she had no choice but to put the last of her strength into getting them back. Manipulating the wind currents beneath Cyborg she levitated him toward the back door, stopping to pick up and callously toss the unconscious girl over her shoulder. Out the back door and through the alley Vane went, opening the man-hole cover and throwing down the Titans. Once they were both in, she slipped under as well.

_Missions 1 & 2 accomplished_.

* * *

**Thank you for reading :) Let me know what you think!**


	6. Ground Control to Major Tom

[authors note]

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

Long chapter; so sorry! My motivation is shot now, but I'm trying :/ Please read & review 33

Thanks!

**Update**: Chapter revised; May 2013.

-ch six: ground control to major tom-

Starfire paced across the sidewalk, wringing her hands and glancing around nervously every few seconds as she had been for the past hour. As the first flashes of green entered her sight, she looked up and flew forward, mentally thanking her friends for being so noticeable. "Beast Boy, Robin! Have you heard anything? Seen anything?"

"No luck, Star," Robin responded cooly, though Star had known him long enough to understand he was actually very worried about their missing friends. His steely exterior betrayed nothing. She flashed him a small smile, hoping to cheer him up.

Her leader caught it and nodded briefly, though he was quick to continue with business as usual. "Let's split up and see if we can't find anything. I'll take the northwest. Beast Boy, you can take the south. And Starfire, you handle the northeast. We'll meet back here in two hours. If you find something, say something. Alright?"

Beast Boy and Starfire nodded and the three parted ways. As Starfire flew away, she noticed the worried expression on Beast Boy's face, and found she was wearing one to match. With a sigh, she gained altitude, praying her friends were unharmed and safe.

"Still out cold?"

Vane leaned against the wall of the holding room, eyes rolling over her surroundings. It was small and dark room with one light bulb hanging over head. A special glass wall separated her from the prisoners with two rows of metal bars, humming with a unique electrical current, running perpendicular and separating the cell into three parts. Raven was situated in the far right, Cyborg in the far left. Beside her was a table and an uncomfortable wooden chair, both unoccupied.

Zephyr stood in front of the glass, eyes fixed almost boredly on the two teenagers as he responded, "I should commend you for your totality." _Should_, Vane thought, _but he won't. _"By what means did you achieve these results?"

"I cut off her oxygen," Vane reported, pointing at the cloaked girl. "And this one got a toaster to the noggin." She pointed at Cyborg.

For a moment she thought he'd paired his light 'hah' with a thin grin, but she was mistaken. Miffed slightly, she shuffled the pile of papers in her hand and stepped forward, holding them out to his right side.

"They're under sedative, though. I had them searched by the techies. They disconnected their homing devices and signals in their communicators but left the rest intact, in case you were interested. They had to hack Cyborg's system to shut off the homing device in there and change a few codes – that's all included in the description on his papers, by the way – and they discovered Raven had a signal device in her brooch which was also removed and destroyed."

After her report was finished he took the papers from her hand and flipped over the headings of each one. Finding no error, Zephyr merely gave her a sidelong glance, meaning _'get'_. Vane turned on her heel but only got as far as the door frame before he addressed her once more.

"Where are you going?" He didn't turn to look at her.

Vane froze, knowing by his tone that it wasn't wherever she _thought _she was going. "To further my research on the remaining Titans…?"

Zephyr continued to speak toward the glass. "You have more Titans to catch. Return to the control room to find coordinates on the alien girl through the Titans' communicator. I expect this one to be quick."

A complaint rose through her throat but the first syllable had barely passed her lips when he turned his head slightly. She still couldn't see his eyes, much less his face, but she knew she didn't want to catch the evil look he had prepared in case she started to whine. Vane cracked her fingers as she cleared her throat and said, "Oh, uh. Right. Okay."

Zephyr remained motionless as the small girl looked to the ceiling with contempt. She took another step out the door when something sprung on her, prompting her to spin back around and approach the glass pane with half a smirk on her jaw. Her grey eyes fell upon Raven.

"Before I go, I need to borrow something from our witch friend here."

Thirty minutes of searching later, Starfire's hopes were still unconfirmed. So nervous was she that when her communicator crackled, she jumped.

Robin's voice crackled: "Robin, reporting. Nothing to find over here. Beast Boy?"

"Dude, this part of the city is so dense. But I don't see anything. Not even a single clue. There's a creepy abandoned stadium in the distance I have to get to. Maybe they're there?"

Starfire sighed while Beast Boy made an odd noise. He'd probably tripped. "I too have found nothing, but I will continue to look diligently. Our friends have to be here somewhere."

"That's the spirit, Star," was Robin's parting encouragement. She nearly put her communicator away when Robin started again. "There's an empty warehouse somewhere along the outskirts of your part, Starfire. Maybe you should look there."

"Thank you, I will," she said wearily. Starfire hoped she wouldn't find her friends in a creepy, abandoned warehouse, but more than that she hoped she would find her friends soon.

The warehouse came into view rather quickly. It was a huge, hollow block of gray. Starfire flew down to the entrance and approached it carefully. The silver heels of her boots made a dull clunking sound as she walked over the concrete. Boxes everywhere cast shadows down upon her as the sinking sun shone through the large, industrial windows at the top of the walls.

A flash of blue material caught her eye. "Hello?" She called instinctively, turning to face what she'd seen. There, her friend stood, facing the back wall. Too glad to be suspicious the alien called out, "Raven!"

Raven turned around with a flourish. As the cape flared out behind her, Starfire became dreadfully aware she was wrong. Slender hands removed the hood that shadowed her face, and there stood Vane, grinning like a chesire cat. "Hey, Starfire! Sorry I'm not who you wanted me to be. This is Raven's cloak, but don't worry, I'll give it back to her when I'm done with it."

The redhead girl immediately took a defensive stance, her feet leaving the floor and her eyebrows furrowing. She demanded, "Where are my friends?"

Vane unlatched the cloak and tore it away from her body, ignoring Starfire as she breathed, "Goodness, it's much too hot for that. No wonder your friend always wears a leotard with that. It's intense."

As Starfire rose into the air, she followed suit, casually manipulating the air to raise her up while she examined her fingernails as though her opponent was a boring friend she was forced to have a chat with.

Starfire wrinkled her nose and pushed forward a little. "I asked you: where are my friends? I wish to have them back now please." Despite her formal speech, her voice was hard and cold, ridden with anger and the desire to send a bitch flying. The air surrounding her fingers took a tint of green as she prepared to use her starbolts.

"Careful, Star." Vane purred, voice absolutely oozing with something condescending and luscious. "Do something crazy and I just might do the same… to your boy, Robin."

The alien girl gasped, her expression changing quickly from shock to anger. "You will do nothing of the sort!" She shouted. "Robin is fine, he is in the city-"

Vane was quick to cut her off. "Don't be stupid. Robin," Vane paused and pulled Raven's communicator out of her pocket, "is mine now." She watched the Tamaranian's blood boil with her every word. "Want him? Come and get him."

In an instant Starfire developed a savage look in her eyes; she needed no further encouragement. With a war cry she launched forward, starbolts glowing in her hands. Without hesitation or mercy she attacked Vane. Such rage had been unforeseen, and the smaller, brown-haired girl was succumbed to submission when the much stronger Starfire grabbed hold of her and whipped her at the ground. As she struggled to regain control, starbolts rained all around her, striking her body like white-hot punches.

Vane threw her arms out and regained control, swiftly flying past the next round of bolts and shaking her head. "Didn't see that coming," she muttered to herself and looked up at Starfire. The alien girl growled and sped down towards her. Vane attempted to dodge her, but moved only seconds too slow. She was seized by the ankle and tossed to the side, where another round of starbolts hit her in the chest and stomach.

She swallowed the pain and directed a number of old parts around the warehouse at her prey – wrenches and boxes and factory parts left to rot. Starfire wove smoothly between them, furthering the distance between her and her assailant when she had to and coming closer when it was safe. Like two angry birds the girls flew through the air, dodging and throwing attacks without any pause. It felt like forever that Vane was being chased around by the starbolt-hurling girl, and that certainly wasn't how this battle was supposed to go.

She paused and manipulated a box, heavy with something inside, into the air and hurled it at Starfire. The alien girl responded with a snarl so girly it would've made Vane laugh had she not paired it with an intense starbeam, shooting right through the box and hitting Vane square in the chest. With its force she flew into the concrete wall behind her, dropping to the ground upon impact.

Enough was enough, Vane decided when she coughed up something nasty. Zephyr had instructed this battle be a short one, and though she greatly desired to beat and bruise the alien girl for the way she had intensely handed Vane's ass to her at the start of the battle, she was short on time. She and Starfire stared each other down for a moment, the latter's eyes glowing brighter until she shot beams from them again.

Wind brought boxes soaring up to shield Vane from her starbeams. As soon as they blew up, falling in fiery pieces around the alien girl, she flew up in circles, narrowed eyes searching for where her opponent had disappeared to. She found out quickly when Vane's arms wrapped around her neck and elbows from behind. Before the alien could grab and break Vane's arms, she hissed, "This is the same way Raven went too… well, sort of."

Quickly, she rotated her arm position and covered Star's mouth with her hand, and began to suck the air from her lungs. Starfire's struggle was more dignified than her fallen teammate's, though once the air began to leave in great amounts she went slack instead of throwing a fit. When Starfire was unconscious, Vane brought her down to the ground. She smiled proudly, at first, seeing a small amount of blood on the silver part of her top. Then she realized it was only her own, and frowned.

Vane started towards the cape she'd cast away earlier. A crackle stopped the wind mover in her tracks.

"Hourly report in – still nothing here." Robin's voice crackled from the communicator on Star.

Vane cursed and rushed forward, grabbing it while BB replied, "Same goes dude."

She tried to wrench open the back of the communicator. "Starfire?" Robin asked.

Vane grew panicked. The back wasn't opening.

"I have a location. She's really close to me. I'll go make sure she isn't slacking off," Beast Boy joked.

Finally, Vane chucked it at the wall. Leaning over and breathing heavily, she watched with satisfaction as the device shattered. Electronic bits and pieces flew from the sight of impact. The sound of its destruction nearly distracted the wind mover from footsteps on the concrete ground. She whipped her head around, and saw Beast Boy in tiger form, standing in the glare of the sun. Vane's mouth curled into a grim baring of teeth while she straightened her back and threw back her shoulders to face him.

"No," Vane snarled at the green Titan. "No, not another one of you."

Beast Tiger roared, but she was not about to be intimidated. Vane wiped the bloody corner of her mouth on her dark gray shoulder and flung her hands out to the sides. The bruises were obvious and swollen, and her head raged like the tornado she was creating, but Vane would not allow herself to be defeated today.

As the tiger's green tail whipped from side to side, Beast Boy evaluated the situation. One wind-controlling crazy chick? Check. One defeated Titan behind her? Check. No way he could win here? Check. With those three criteria all met, he decided his best effort was to run.

Vane caught his glances as he looked around for an escape and howled, "NO. You're not going anywhere."

Starfire had roughed her up better than she gave her credit for. Even if Vane gave it her all, she probably wouldn't have been able to fend off Beast Boy. Panic shone in her eyes as he transformed from a tiger to a Tyrannosaur, and stormed forward towards Vane as if to fight her. Thinking that was what he meant, she drew the cyclone towards herself and then aimed it and prepared to fire it into his eyes. However, BB simply turned into a hummingbird and flitted away.

Her funnel dissipated almost immediately. She stood in the windy aftermath, knees shaking with exhaustion while her mouth gaped openly in surprise, disbelief, and shame. Quickly she snapped out of it. He'd seen her, and they now knew she had the Titans. Vane needed to return to the underground as fast as possible; before Beast Boy could tell Robin and they could find her.

* * *

**Please review!**


	7. Consequence and Confrontation

[authors note]

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

Wow. It has been a while. School got pretty heavy for a while there, but school is finished now so I can finally pick up where I left off. This chapter is pretty long, so hopefully it makes up for my absence :( Sorry about that! PLEASE Read and Review!

Thanks!

**Update**: Chapter revised; May 2013

-ch seven: consequence and confrontation-

"You'd better tell me there was an ambush waiting with her, waiting to tear your head off your shoulders," Zephyr growled.

Vane stood in the hallway, squinting under the glare of the lights and holding her sore arm. Most of what had been bleeding was dried up, though a couple assorted scratches and cuts opened again from when she had to drag Starfire down through the sewer system and into the holding cell.

She refused to look. With her eyes glued to the right wall, she straightened her posture slightly and kept her mouth shut. It took her a while to admit her fault, and when she did, she simply grumbled, "I underestimated her."

"Even better," he growled, stepping forward. She flinched slightly, still staring at the wall. "There is no excuse for failure. If you disappoint me one more time, Vane, I can assure you the consequences will be far more painful than those pitiful scratches you're moaning about."

Vane blinked while he seethed and turned away from her.

"Pathetic," Zephyr snarled as a finishing blow. "Were you at least able to gather anything?"

Vane wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and nodded very slowly, wincing when the slight movement caused her pain. "Yes," she said quietly while her head throbbed. "I did. You can add to the file: dangerous when angry and uh… oh, she has a crush on Robin. I tested the statements even. They are not factitious, but they are facts."

He whirled suddenly and snarled, "Stop being wise! You have until tomorrow to recuperate from your injuries. After that, I expect business as usual."

Vane didn't respond at all; too busy clutching her head while the echo of his words in her ears caused her headache to grow more painful. His footsteps began to grow distant. Once she realized he was walking away, she looked at his retreating back and turned, making her way slowly to the opposite end of the hallway to the holding cell.

As she door creaked open, she the scene freeze-framed. Raven, who had approached the bars separating her and Starfire, stared at Vane. Her slender hand was outstretched through the bars and placed over Star's neck, presumably healing the bruises. Cyborg, who was leaning against the wall in his cell closest to Starfire, glared at her as well. Not one of them moved, although Starfire was not supposed to, seeing as the Tamaranian girl was still unconscious.

Vane briefly looked over at them, her expression uninterested, even blank as though she didn't see anything or anyone. Her half-lidded eyes rolled to the side to look at the table, where a few random papers and a coffee mug sat. She moved slowly, trying to disguise her limp as well as possible. When she reached the table she leaned on it slightly, picking up a pen and making a few marks on the top sheet. Still the Titans remained motionless, and still she paid them no attention.

With a sigh she put the pen down and straightened up, limping towards the door again. This time, as she turned out of the door, she looked over her shoulder and frowned as if noticing the three heroes for the first time. Seeing Raven's outstretched hand, she shook her head and said a quiet "Oh," to herself.

One the wall was an assortment of switches. Two were on, and one was off. She grinned and flicked the remaining one up. A blue shock attacked Raven's hand and she withdrew swiftly, wincing and shooting a fierce look at Vane.

"It's not only if you touch the bars," Vane said quietly. "Any time it senses powers being used, it'll zap you from the nearest sensor. It's in your best interest, then, to be nice and compliant and all that jazz."

Neither Cyborg nor Raven said a word. The brown hair girl nodded shortly and turned again, exiting the room. The door closed behind her with an echoing _click_.

Vane clutched the yellow communicator in her hand like it would somehow give her strength. It beeped at her in response, prompting a squeak from the girl. She examined it quickly, hoping she hadn't set off any sort of signal that would show up on the remaining Titans' screens, disclosing her location. Instead, she had only opened the control panel for the coordinates she was on. She canceled out of 'Zoom' and looked at the slowly moving red target dot: Beast Boy.

In truth, Vane was rather frightened by holding the communicator. Somehow, she thought, it would read who she was and her motives and secrets and send them all over to the leader and that goofball and then she would be royally screwed.

A feeling of dread grew in her stomach, worsening the further she walked. Beast Boy didn't really seem to be moving much. His coordinates took her further and further from the city on a long, open and abandoned road. Vane got worried; what if he could see her coming? Not that he would even expect her.

Then it hit her: why couldn't she see him? In his black and purple uniform he was sure to stand out, and his personality didn't exactly strike her as sneaky. She stopped for a moment and considered the landscape, idly swatting at a fly that was disturbing the silence she needed to be thorough in her investigation.

She was getting closer and closer to her target, but still she saw nothing. Biting her lip she began to sprint.

"Did he know I was coming?" She growled to herself, turning her eyes to the ground. "Was it abandoned?" But the only yellow on the pavement were the traffic marks. She stared at Raven's communicator in frustration. The only sound was the obnoxious _bzz_, _bzz_ of the fly. Vane whirled around, constantly changing direction as she tried to locate him.

But there was still nothing out there, nothing but her and that fly. She tried to shoo it away, glancing down at the communicator only to practically drop it with surprise. According to the map Beast Boy was right on top of her. Her mouth felt dry with fear, irritatingly swatting the fly again while she prayed it would just _shut up already_.

As though reading her mind, the buzzing ceased and Vane was able to breathe a sigh of relief. She put her cold palm on her aching forehead and remarked, "I need to stop talking to myself." Then, completely disregarding what she just said, she mumbled, "Is there a bug with the software or something?"

Vane stopped cold and lifted her head. She spun and ended up face to face with Beast Boy.

The expression on his face shocked her out of any snarky comment she would have made. He was visibly tired, his eyes weary, and his mouth gave not even a hint of a smile. He lurched forward and grabbed her by the shoulders. His grip was tight, but not painful. Vane continued to stare while he gave her a rough shake.

"Please, just give me my friends back," he said clearly, and slowly.

Vane blinked, and shook him off of her. She took a few retreating steps backwards, but he didn't close the gap. "It's not that simple," she said quietly.

"It could be," Beast Boy asserted.

Vane found herself unable to look him in the eyes, so she stared blankly at that one tooth that jutted out of his mouth from his lower jaw. She mulled over his words and laughed solemnly. "It could be? I'm sorry, but nothing is ever simple." She finally looked up into his dark eyes. He didn't resist her stare, only responded to it by staring right back.

"Vane."

The sound of her name, for whatever reason, startled her. She drew back as though she'd been slapped in the face and looked at Beast Boy with a shameful glance.

"Make it that simple."

A small breeze blew past the two teenagers, sending Vane's hair in disarray. The small reminder of her natural element on her skin rejuvenated her enough to draw her shoulders back and clear her mind. What was she doing, making small talk with an enemy she was supposed to be capturing? While he glared half-heatedly, she reviewed his profile in her head and finally gave a roll of her eyes.

"I already told you, I can't. _God_, you're more stubborn than Terra."

Vane didn't have to look directly at him to see his entire demeanor change. At the same time, something about him went alive and something about him went dead. He stepped forward and asked, "Terra?"

Vane nodded, as though she thought he didn't know who she was talking about. "Yeah. Blonde girl, one of my friends. Stubborn as hell though. Sometimes it gets on my nerves."

"You're lying," Beast Boy snarled out of nowhere. "Terra is gone."

She looked over her shoulder, her face showing concern. "Um… no, she definitely isn't. You don't even know her."

"I did know her!" He exploded.

The brunette backed up and held her hands out. "Okay, chill. Oh, I know. You're referring to when she sacrificed herself for Jump City. Yeah, Terra was a geomancer. She controlled the earth. You think if she turned herself to stone she couldn't turn herself back? Give the girl some credit. She's powerful."

He seemed to buy into her story, and took another eager step forward. "Terra's… alive?" He drew in towards himself and exclaimed, "I knew it! I knew she was back! Nobody believed me. She pretended like she didn't even know me."

Vane tilted her head and interjected into his rant: "Wanna see her?"

He turned and frowned. It almost frightened Vane, how much his weariness affected his judgment. He was about to make a stupid ass mistake, but it was a stupid ass mistake she could profit from very well. So she smiled again.

"Just come with me. But it has to look real, so I'll have to knock you out." She grimaced apologetically, looking from the floor back up to the green Titan. "Can you do that?"

"I'm gonna see Terra, right?" Beast Boy asked for confirmation.

"Yup, now close your eyes." When he did, she let her head roll back and she sighed. It didn't feel that good to take advantage of a broken heart that hadn't slept in three days. But still, she had to do it. And this was much easier than what she'd been doing for those past three days. Silently, she lifted her hands and placed one over his mouth and nose and sucked the air out of his passageways. She did it quicker than she had with the others, trying to cause him less pain but he trucked on through it like a real trooper until he collapsed onto Vane.

She caught him, and then kneeled down. "God I'm sore," she hissed while her arms ached. "And still talking to myself."

Hoisting him over her shoulder in a fireman's carry, she disconnected his communicator and began to carry him back to the manhole a mile down. It was tedious work, but at least she hadn't had to fight him beforehand. Now all that was left was Robin. Speaking of, where was that obnoxious leader anyway? Vane checked Raven's communicator. He was still relatively in the same place he'd been for a while, moving around the same area. Clearly, he did not know how to look for lost team mates. But hey, no skin off of her back.

Vane looked over her shoulder just in and continued moving. While hustling along she considered Terra once more, the girl she'd used against the Titans twice. The report had failed to mention how important the blonde had been to her current opponents. Perhaps if she'd known that she could've used her on all four of the Titans, though Raven kind of used Terra against herself… Vane shrugged the thought away.

All that mattered was that she'd captured four-fifths of the team and there was one more left. And honestly, how hard could that be?

She lifted the manhole cover and disappeared, Beast Boy and all, down into the sewers. The lamps blipped on and off precariously. It seemed as though someone had been doing maintenance down below and had forgotten to turn them off. Vane shrugged and accepted the extra light.

Gently, the brown-haired girl let Beast Boy onto the ground and leaned over, resting her weight on her knees with a great sigh.

"Let's take a break, BB. I'm exhausted as-" she was cut off in the middle of her sentence by some great force acting upon her spine and throwing her forward onto the ground. Vane groaned in pain and rolled onto her knees, squinting up to see what the hell had just happened.

"So this is where you've been hiding,"

Her vision came in to focus on a number of aspects: a cocky chin in the air, a holier-than-thou frown, stupid spiky hair and a twirling bo-staff. When the parts came together to make the whole, Vane was anything but pleased.

* * *

**Please review! Thank you for reading :)**


	8. Broken Wings

[authors note]

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

So, I decided to put this on hiatus seeing as I haven't touched it in a long time. I have an outline finished but my muse and life direction has gone in a very different place than I want it to. However, I have quite the buffer for this fanfic. I haven't decided yet if I want to put up my remaining written chapters or keep them for when I start to write again. Either way, I decided I might as well update this much. R&R if you please.

Thanks!

**Update**: Chapter revised; May 2013

-ch eight: broken wings-

"Fantastic," Vane grumbled to herself. "How are you gonna justify hitting a girl while she's not looking?"

"It's not like this girl is innocent or anything," he snarled, raising his staff. "She's taken my friends and I'm going to save them." He swung.

Vane threw herself backwards, rolling twice and then pushing herself onto her feet with enough time to slam against the sewer wall in order to avoid getting hit in the face by his staff swinging skills. Crouching, she shot a wave of wind at his knees, traveling with the speed of a tornado. He jumped, but was still hit in the front of his feet by the wind and fell forward.

She wasted no time. A small but strong funnel of wing propelled forward, following the hero as he rolled forward and jumped to the side. When he veered towards her again, Vane shot the tornado into his path. He stepped, his foot nearly getting sucked in and then… he jumped. The bastard leapt backwards and while the tornado hit the wall and dispersed he lurched forward, swinging and effectively landing a hit right in her gut. As the wind was knocked out of her she expelled a nasty sound and flew backwards, hitting the ground gracelessly.

Robin swung at the ground. She covered her face and ducked her head, expecting him to stop mid-swing. He didn't. The sharp metal end of the staff came down on her brow bone and sliced a pretty number into her forehead before she kicked her legs and knocked it out of the way. Scrambling backwards, she got up and covered the wound, trying to stop the blood from seeping into her eye.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Robin said, his chest in the air and his staff gripped tightly. "You're not beaten until you fall on the ground and stay there." He narrowed his eyes. "And I won't stop until I beat you."

Vane lifted her hand off of the wound and casually wiped the blood on her pants, though there was something twitching in her expression. She lurched forward, her head throbbing and her mouth contorted in a maniacal and twisted grin.

"Beat me? You think you can _beat_ me?" Vane snarled like an animal. "You think you can knock me to the ground so hard that I'll actually _stay _there?"

The staff swung and smacked her right in the face and into the wall. She adopted a very calm demeanor suddenly, and flung her hands out in front of her. Suddenly, Vane was motionless. Robin stared for a moment at her peculiar behavior, but didn't falter from it. He charged with a battle cry… right into her trap.

The moment he stepped in between the two bodies of air she held, one in each hand, he was crushed by immense pressure. Not enough to kill him in any fashion, but she took great pleasure in watching his ears bleed. As though she was spinning a top, she threw one arm forward and drew one arm into herself, starting a tornado with the titan in it. She didn't hear his cries over the sound of the wind, but she liked to imagine he was screaming loudly.

The tornado thrashed into walls, across the sewage, and up to the ceiling as Vane controlled its movements. For nearly five minutes she raged, cackling from time to time as the walls shook with the power of her hits. With one last toss she launched Robin into the ground, and then leaned against the nearest wall, panting with the exhaustion that had crept up on her during her crazy episode.

The battered Titan, to Vane's disbelief, picked himself off the floor and smirked. "Pretty impressive," he remarked. Without warning he jumped forward and launched forward some device that opened up into a net.

Vane blew it away with a strong gust of wind, grinning at – an empty space.

"Where-?"

It became very apparent to her where Robin had disappeared to when her hands were jerked behind her back and her face met the wall unpleasantly. The rough concrete dug into the large cut on her forehead, dirt and grit attacking the tender, exposed skin. She tried to calm her breath, though the task was difficult. Robin used her own arms to swing her around and shove her back against the wall. Though she was now facing him, Vane continued to stare at the ground, her eyes half closed while she fought the pain. Robin spoke suddenly.

"Look at me," the seventeen-year-old growled, his normally cocky tone replaced with something that struck her with fright. "I said _look_."

The bruises on her jawbone ached. She complied.

"I'd suggest you'd talk," he commanded next.

But she couldn't. She feared her angry, power-hungry boss more than she feared the walking traffic light in front of her.

"How disappointing."

Vane's heart nearly stopped. Eyes wide with a sudden terror she couldn't shake, she stared at Robin and subtly bit her lip to try and force sense into herself. It didn't work too well. Robin didn't return her stare, instead choosing to whip his head in the direction of the voice.

Her black-clad superior stepped out from the shadows, a thin smile on his lips.

"The consequences for your defeat, Vane, will be vast. I believe I had warned you not to fail me again. However, due in part to the unconscious green Titan at your feet and the amusement you brought me with your performance, I suppose I won't kill you."

She flinched as he spoke but choked through her pain, "Yes, sir." She wasn't about to get beat for insubordination along with her punishment for losing.

"Who are you?" Robin snarled, releasing one hand from Vane and wielding his staff in it.

Zephyr smirked and moved so quickly he was almost impossible to spot. Suddenly next to Robin's body he said simply, "None of your concern," and pinched a pressure point between his two forefingers and his thumb. After a strained grunt of pain, Robin went limp.

As Zephyr gathered him he stared at Vane, eyes cold. "Get the other boy." He barked finally, and began to walk.

Vane limped as fast as she could to fetch Beast Boy and, hoisting him in her battered arms, carried him away, several steps behind her boss.

The wound on her forehead was just as ugly the next day. It had swelled up and gotten slightly red, though granted she looked pretty bad ass with those bruises and scratches. It was the limp, reinforced by her defeat yesterday, that turned the whole bad to the bone look into something weak. Despite her literal lame duck status, she couldn't help but feel hurt when she had been assigned to prisoner duty.

Of all the tasks she could have received, she was to watch the captives like a mindless minion. There was a great load of ass-kissing lower level losers working for Zephyr, but he specifically chose Vane to do the boring work for the day. Of course, she _was_ supposed to be resting today to give her injuries time to heal, but she could have at least filed papers. Vane had an uncomfortable inkling that he was forcing her to look at the people who had put her in such a sorry state to make her feel even worse than she already did. Still, watching the stupid Titans was a step up from mopping the floor, so she didn't complain but to herself.

It was almost as if she could sense the hostility before she even opened the door. Vane stood outside it, briefly contemplating if she ought to trade in this villainy for a life in jail. She shook her head at the silly idea and grinned. All in due time…

With a deep breath and an emotional shut down she shoved open the door and walked in like she owned the place. Immediately, she turned away from the holding cells. She didn't have to look to confirm what she knew. Beast Boy and Raven were on one end, Cyborg and Starfire on the other. And in the middle holding cell was Robin by himself.

Someone cried out angrily. Vane could tell just by the voice it was the second to last Titan to go. Instead of turning to face Beast Boy, she continued give him a nice view of her back.

"You lied to me!" He snarled, his tensed hands pressed against the glass. All ten fingers strained with the urge to hurt the small girl on the other side. "You lied to me about Terra! You lied! Do you have any idea what any of us went through? _Do you_? You have no right to even say her name!"

Starfire sounded weakly, "Beast Boy, Vane has lied to us all. If that is even what she is truly called."

Robin scoffed. "It is. At least, that's what her boss calls her."

Vane ignored both of them.

Beast Boy didn't. He turned his head and snapped, "I don't care! She lied!" and then, to the no-good lying liar, "You _lied_!"

Vane finally whirled, her hair whipping as she did. Her arm came down on the glass with enough strength to cause it to shake, prompting Beast Boy to back up a half step. She curled her upper lip like a feral animal and stared. Her eyes were hard to read, and when she finally spoke it was hushed and strained.

"Shut _up_. I miss Terra too."

* * *

**Please review!**


	9. Unspoken Times

[authors note]

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

I recall saying this was on hiatus and I had a really big buffer for it so I might keep uploading… well, I did have a good four chapter buffer, but I lost everything on my computer a few years ago, including those chapters and my overall writing plans for this fanfic. No idea why, but I randomly decided to work on it again, so here goes nothing. Feel free to read and review!

Thanks!

**Update**: Chapter revised; May 2013

-ch nine: unspoken times-

Beast Boy was full of fury. The other Titans no longer made a move to settle him down.

He snarled, "Stop saying her name! You didn't even _know_ her-"

"I didn't _know_ her?" Vane cut him off and laughed coldly. "You don't even know _me_. You don't know anything outside of your city. You think you can tell me who my friends were?"

Beast Boy furrowed his brow and challenged, _"Friends_?" but his words went unnoticed by the small girl.

Still only a centimeter away from the glass, Vane's glare suddenly began to shift. Her eyes left Beast Boy and traveled from Titan to Titan, with pieces of information to share with her ignorant prisoners. Her voice rang with a deranged sort of humor, like she really just could not believe they thought they were so smart and so _good_ and yet there was so much they just did not know.

First, to Starfire: "You are not the first Tamaranean to come to Earth, you know."

Then, Robin: "And Slade is not the only power hungry criminal mastermind."

To Cyborg: "Look at you. Seriously? Five kids who don't know anything bigger than Jump City."

And finally, Raven: "He was your worst enemy and yet you never pursued him beyond the borders of your town. And you expected to defeat him, knowing so little?"

She whirled away from the glass and threw her hands in the air, on a tangent devised deep in the emotional core of her mind. "Where do you think he goes when he disappears? Where do you think he is now? How did he know about Terra before she showed up in your town? He may have been a freelance artist, but that doesn't mean he never had any affiliations. Did you even stop to think of that? And I bet you thought he was the only one." She laughed, and shook her head, and faced the Titans once more.

"But there were four of them… and four of us."

The Titans stared blankly, unable to decide if she was going insane or potentially spilling valuable information. Vane shared the blank gaze, but this time she did not focus it on the heroes behind the glass. Her thoughts briefly consumed her.

She hadn't recognized Robin - Robin! Slade's first apprentice. True she had never seen him, but she had certainly heard of him. Her mind slipped back into a memory.

Seven of them sat at the round table in the center of a grand, dark room beneath the cities. A single, orange-tinted light hung over head. It'd been her first time at a Warehouse meeting. There was so much to take in, but somehow she remembered very much of it. At the head of the table there was a man with a mask and a frighteningly huge build. Seated next to him was a boy, rather scrawny and unassuming, with blonde hair and blue eyes so pale they were nearly white. He never spoke – and she never did during the meeting either – but not even before the meeting begun; he didn't utter a word. He looked like his element.

Across from her sat a slim, curious-looking man, wearing a suit and tie with a fancily folded pocket square. Of all the masterminds seated there, he looked the least serious and least threatening, and yet his arrival to Red City had been the most memorable. Next to him was a teenager with golden skin and a fiery red ponytail, dressed in a strange navy and silver armor. He was almost normal enough to pass for a human, save for his strange, orange-red eyes. She remembered staring at him for a long time that day, for reasons she would keep to herself.

Thinking back to him she could've kicked herself for not recognizing Starfire as a Tamaranean sooner – but she had rather quickly, anyway.

She herself sat beside a man who she didn't know too well yet – Zephyr. He was still clad in all-black armor, though Vane imagined he was slightly smaller at this first meeting. The both of them had done a great amount of growing as the years went on. His dark hair was still messy but significantly shorter, yet his cold eyes held the same hard and unforgiving look that was so familiar to her now. Beside him she sat in an outfit akin to most superheroes' of that time, with her long, straight hair in a ponytail on the crown of her head.

And finally, to her left was a large, intimidating man of his prime. He wore armor and a mask that was half black and half bronze, with only one piercing eye staring out across the table. The seat beside him was empty, and presumably never before filled. Robin hadn't made the apprentice bit long enough to join the Warehouse. If Vane had known what she was getting in to in the first place, she wondered if she would've made it either.

The conversation at the table was hard to recall, but bits and pieces of it floated through the scene.

"It seems Robin didn't work out too well, now?" said the man at the head of the table.

"Not a word needs to be spoken of my first apprentice. Isn't that the purpose of tools in this modern world? To find something good and use it until you discover something better," replied Slade, his voice dry.

"Let's hope you have found someone more suitable," the other man said sternly. "Even Zephyr has finally picked an apprentice."

A grand gesture towards their side of the table was enough to startle Vane, but not visibly. Never visibly. The punishment for such weakness was rough, but she knew it was for her own good. She cast her grey stare in the direction of the man speaking about her and raised her chin slightly, a fierce arrogance in her glare.

At the sight of her 'ferocity', he laughed.

Vane finally broke from her reverie, but she didn't remove her eyes from the wall. In fact, it was more like she stepped from one dream state to another. She didn't hear the Titans or any other sounds from the reality. With a small frown, Vane exited the room, not even bothering to take a final glance at the prisoners she was supposed to be guarding. Prisoner watch was just another punishment for her anyway. She knew better than to think that Zephyr's holding cells were unable to withstand superhuman powers.

The Titans watched as the door closed and Vane disappeared without a sound.

"Personally I think she's crazy," Cyborg grumbled.

"Well I would love to beat the crazy out of her when we escape here," Raven added on.

"Wouldn't we all," Robin growled in response. He stretched out one hand towards the bars separating him for his teammates, but was greeted a violent blue current when he tried to grasp the bars. Starfire cried his name in worry as the blast knocked him backwards.

Robin shook it off and angrily slammed a fist into the wall. "We have to find a way out of here!" He snapped, looking for a chorus of agreement from the others.

But they were just as lost as him.

It was dark as Vane walked the halls, but it was better that way. Better to have neither Zephyr nor those sniveling little techies know where she was headed.

She continued past the main room, and past several more doors. She turned to the left and continued into a dustier area of the underground complex, where it was obviously less frequented. She laid her hand on the small, silver door handle and pushed her weight against the door as she turned it so it wouldn't make noise. She opened it only so far enough as to slip in and then closed the door with as much care and silence as she had opened it. One could potentially say she was snooping around, performing her business so late and so secretively. But, Vane reasoned, she was allowed access to where she was.

With the door successfully closed, she turned to face the interior. Surprisingly, it was a very tiny room, no bigger than a janitor's closet. There was a plain, metal table with a large monitor on top, the input system below and one old swivel chair in questionable condition. Vane approached the set up and lowered herself into the swivel chair, wincing as it squeaked. One click of the power button and the old machine whirred to life. The monitor came on as a plain black screen with one blinking white line, implying she had to enter the password.

Surprisingly, she found little difficulty entering the 30-character passcode. It cleared and within moments she was in the old Warehouse database. Long lists of documents appeared before her, titled quite simply with some names – _Robin, Max, Terra, Wildfire, Vane_– and some locations – _Red City, Jump City, Steel City_– all of which Vane recognized… all but one.

Her plan had been to perform a little nostalgic remembrance of better times, to simply refresh her memory of the people in her past. Yet in the corner of all the old Warehouse information was an untitled document.

Was she allowed to view it? Zephyr had given her permission to access and enter information into the database several years ago. It had never been revoked from her, so… she opened it.

The information was new, and unheard of. Vane narrowed her eyes and scoured the document, which was several pages long and quite detailed. The feeling in her chest was indescribable.

It wasn't until several hours later that the computer shut down and Vane slipped away into the darkness as silently as she had come.

* * *

**Thank you for reading :)**


	10. It's Time to Begin, Isn't It?

[authors note]

Sometimes when I miss this story enough I give it another go…

Chapter One has been revised.

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

-ch ten: it's time to begin, isn't it?-

The following morning, Vane was awake by 5:00 AM. She ate and drank enough to gather strength and reported to the basement for final training. The fact that there was a basement in an underground lair had amused her when she first found out, but she knew now there was nothing _amusing_ about the basement. It was the place where she was tried and tested again and again, where she fought until she passed out, where she was beaten halfway to death, where she was pushed to her limit and beyond. Every day she was thrown to the wolves and withheld from mercy.

In the beginning her training had been especially cruel. When the sessions ended every day she'd been so angry and confused – why did they heal her bones when they would just break them again? Later she understood her strength, will and loyalty had to be tested before she could be officially invited to the Warehouse. It'd been bitter, terrible work. Vane knew the taste of blood so well from it. But she was so much stronger than she had been before. Even if she didn't agree with his technique, his technique agreed with her. Eventually Vane found that she could hit harder, run faster, stand longer. And her _powers_ – how they'd grown. Hawaiian breezes became hurricane gusts. Haphazard hovering became hummingbird flight. True, Zephyr had taken a naïve fourteen-year-old girl and tossed her around like a doll.

It was bitter, terrible work. But it was worth it.

Since the advent of Zephyr's Red City takeover plan, she had seen less of the basement and more field work. Dressing like a civilian and being forbidden to use her powers without permission really peeved her at first. Flying everywhere really cut down on travel time and those black Chuck low-tops were cute but really not meant for hiking around the city all day. She missed her superhero costume especially. Nothing made her feel so powerful as a pair of thigh-high boots and a high ponytail. Of course, Zephyr realized this attachment awfully quick and set the entire dazzling get-up in flames…

"Are you paying any attention at all down there, or are you here simply as a punching bag?"

The image of her glory day suit dying in the fire dissipated at the sharp tone in his voice. Vane glared at the control booth in the rafters, imagining he could feel the daggers in her stare from where he sat beyond the wall.

"That's a much more attentive gaze," he said, sans humor. "Begin."

Two metal suits of armor twice her size dropped from the ceiling. They were Zephyr's own robotic fighting machines, and had also gone through as many revamps as Vane had gone training days. Typically she tested their autopilot, so the surprise could not be hidden from her grey gaze when she caught sight of figures beyond the red windshield. Within each cockpit there sat a techie: one a chubby, red-headed boy and the other a boy-figured blonde girl, both wearing crooked grins. Vane knew getting the chance to knock her around wearing daddy's armor was probably the highlight of their lives. She would be certain they found themselves enjoying it less than they'd planned.

The rest of the day she spent battling the techie suits, running obstacle courses and reiterating the entire plan for the following morning. Vane could recite the itinerary front and back and out of order, yet every last detail needed to be gone over again and again. If it was anything less than perfect, he'd have her head.

But if it was just that – simply perfect – Vane would be _free_.

It was still dark the next morning when Vane appeared in the alley next to Mario's Pizzeria. She was clad in her typical civilian outfit, except for one very superhero thing: a utility belt around her waist, decorated with an extensive amount of little metal dots. Attached to her belt they were no larger than a marble, but the tap of her finger print in a specific area would enlarge and flatten the bombs into mini-mines and activate a perfect camouflage.

Vane embodied her element impeccably, moving with a grace swift and quick, remnant of a gust of wind. First she covered the biggest intersection of the city and laid the bombs out from corner to corner. When they detonated they would reveal an army of techie troops in the hollow ground below. From there on she followed a specific route, tagging all the important things that kept the city alive. Banks, electricity, transportation, police. Everything she did would ensure there would be no city left, nothing to inhabit. Vane gave genuine credit to her master – he really would get his wish. And his wish was to destroy the entire city.

Little personal commentary played in her mind as she zipped from location to location like a bird. These were acts of duty. This was what she had been trained for. This was _her purpose_. She did not think of the lives. She did not think of the destruction. She did not think of the consequences.

But she did think of the Titans, who were already buried in their graves, just waiting for death. Would anyone ever find their bodies? Had anyone even noticed they were gone? Did Jump City honestly care for its heroes, or were they a convenience they could manage without?

_Shit_. A sudden moment of clarity broke her vacant stare, blinking rapidly to reorient herself as her lip curled at her own behavior. How could she get distracted by them at a time like this? Chastising herself, Vane hurried along to complete her work.

Finally every last bomb was in place. The city began to stir, unaware of the rapture that waited. Vane returned to the alley, but instead of slipping under the manhole she flew up the side of the building and found a place to stand beside Zephyr on the rooftop.

A moment went idly by before Zephyr spoke. He did not look at her and spoke instead into the grey light of the approaching dawn, "Well done."

"Thank you," Vane responded in a small voice.

Two years she'd lasted under his rigorous apprenticeship. The abuse had been great but the lesson was greater. She was smarter, and stronger, and more capable than she'd ever been. Her part in the city's demise was important. If all went smoothly, she would finally have his recognition.

"Vane."

His voice took her by surprise. She'd heard him say her name a thousand times, each time in that deep, condescending tone of his. Usually there were icicles attached to his words, slicing into her skin as she listened – but not this time. The venom laced within that syllable was heated, certainly, but not angry. He sounded almost… pleased.

The small brunette glanced over at her leader, somewhat startled find his eyes on her.

"Do you know what time the sun rises today?"

Her grey eyes narrowed in understanding. "I'll get in position," Vane confirmed, and stepped off the building's edge, guiding herself down easily. She slipped beneath the manhole cover for the last time.

Dawn broke.

The troops in the main room were on a special platform, just centimeters away from the above-ground, and below them stood Vane. Atop the Pizzeria, Zephyr detonated the bombs all at once. The titter that had begun as people awoke erupted into chaos when fire and smoke and debris exploded over the city. The main intersection came crashing down on to a pillow of air controlled by Vane. She lifted the chunks of concrete and tossed them back into the city, using her power to help the techie troops out of the underground and on to the street to wreak havoc.

Vane was due out there next, but she could not resist.

Silently she stalked down the hallway as the walls shook and the ground rumbled beneath her feet. She came to the last door and pushed it open.

The Titans, of course, were awake and alert. Robin slammed his hands into the glass and demanded, "Let us out. This is your last chance."

Vane let her head fall to the side and raised one eyebrow rather nonchalantly, lips pursing together as she considered him. Days of imprisonment had turned the usually level leader into a beast of rage. Again, he bellowed, "If you don't let us out, we will find a way out! And there's no way you'll stay alive if we do."

She nodded her head slowly and with one finger caressed the switch that would turn off the power-sensing electrical current. A half-smile haunted her expression as she let her gaze glide smoothly between the switch and the prisoners. "You've got it all wrong," she simpered delicately. "These are your last moments. There is no way out. And there's no way you're staying alive."

Letting her hand fall away from the switchboard she stepped forward. "This," Vane gestured grandly to the trembling room, "is happening." She breathed in and closed her eyes, the very thought filling her with relief. When she opened them, her grey eyes were glimmering. "And when it's finally over, I can be a hero again."

"You? You were never a hero," spat Robin. "You will always be a villain."

The earth above them was shaking; the bombs she had set earlier this morning had detonated. She looked through the open door at the lights in the hallway, which had begun to flash red. Vane slowly turned her gaze back on the Titans, whose expressions she could not read. They weren't stupid. Everyone knew what a self-destruct alarm looked like. A strange feeling passed through her core as she met Robin's masked eyes, his words echoing in her head.

The ceiling was crumbling, part by part coming down to the floor. She really didn't have any more time to waste. Whether or not panic ensued in the room, she would never know. She turned, closed the door and walked away.

* * *

**Thank you for reading :)**


	11. Cruel and Unnecessary

[authors note]

I might as well continue working on it if my muse is still living, hmm? So here goes nothin'.

Chapters 2, 3, 4 & 5 have been revised. I hope to continue this since my 2009 writing is somewhat lackluster. My apologies to anyone starting the story from the beginning that has to deal with the inconsistencies :x

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

-ch eleven: cruel and unnecessary-

All around her the city was caving in on itself. Cars sped past her, disregarding traffic lights and fleeing toward the nearest highway ramp. Buildings crumbled with every passing moment, cutting off escape routes and prompting a panic on foot as people abandoned their cars and ran as fast as they could. Techie troops marched onwards, firing off cannons and destroying whatever it was that their repressed hearts felt like. From the top of an office building she could see Zephyr, raining bombs down upon the masses while the city descended quickly into ruin.

A few men remained, clad in professional-grade riot gear and trying desperately to do their duty and protect the people that had yet to evacuate. She clucked in disapproval at their valor and floated toward them. The men whipped around and aimed their guns, but it was too late. The air at their sides them began to swirl around, as though ropes were winding over their bodies. A quiet, dark laugh began to seep through her crooked grin as the group rose into the air and, with one swing of her arms from shoulder to fingers, flew across the city skyline and plummeted deep within the depths of the sea beyond the skyscrapers. A cruel smirk denoted her satisfaction as she turned away.

Fire raged from destroyed cars and power lines, its red light flickering within Vane's eyes. The terrible smile widened on her face, her nose wrinkling and lip curling as she drank in the horrific display before her. The screams of the innocent filled her with the most horrible but undeniable satisfaction. No regret ripped through her, only adrenaline pulsed in her veins.

Vane floated as high as her lungs could allow it and then stopped, peering down at what remained of Red City. A menacing grin broke across her face, twisting from ear to ear. "We did it," she whispered to herself, feeling her skin crawl as an unbridled joy filled her body. Years of brutal work had led them – had led her – to this very day. Those nosy Titans couldn't even create a _dent_ in their plans; it had all gone through, something that couldn't have happened without her participation. She would be rewarded. She would be respected. What she owed Zephyr was indeed a great debt, but perhaps with this he would be happy enough to raise her from grunt status. Regardless of what she would be granted for their win, Vane knew one thing for sure: from here on everything was going to be much easier.

There was nothing else stirring down below. Flames flickered at every corner, fallen electric wires sparking and the occasional alarm setting off from the abandoned cars – but no more people. The city was fallen; they didn't need to do anything more now. But Vane could not resist a little extra fun. Bellowing a war cry that sounded from the deep of her chest she summed a tornado from the cloudy dawn and hurtled it on the remains of the city, watching it with pride as it leveled the remaining infrastructure. As it ran along its path it tore down anything that dared to stand tall until there was _nothing_ to salvage.

By the time the looting had ended – all the money taken, valuable electronics and weapons seized – and Zephyr had moved his techie troops on to the next location, a cool dusk had fallen over the ruins. The paling light illuminated Vane's silhouette as she paced along the dirty street in front of Mario's. She snapped her head immediately in the direction of approaching footsteps – just in case – but it was only Zephyr who emerged from the rubble.

Vane couldn't help but smile as he approached. For all the pain he'd put her through, the humiliation and torture, she was still absolutely delighted to see him. Whatever he asked of her next she would be more than happy to oblige. It was much easier to trust him, knowing that he had brought upon this great success. And besides, she was hoping so deeply that he might have something kindly to say about her work this time.

"Where do we go now?" She blurted eagerly. "The troops have all been hidden. The lair is cleared out. There's no evidence, no witnesses."

Zephyr faced her and gave her a strange look, giving Vane a moment to study her master. She'd never seen him above ground. He seemed so out of place, clad in his black armor in that rigid stance like he was constantly ready for battle. If anyone was going to have a hard time assimilating into a civilian role it was him, she observed with a small smirk.

To her surprise, he smirked back. "Unfortunately, my apprentice, you are incorrect. There is just one piece of evidence yet to be eliminated." And then he advanced on her.

Vane did not understand why he was stalking forward or why her heart suddenly felt like it was going to jump out of her chest or why she was shrinking in on herself as she backed up. All that elation she'd felt when she saw him had been chased out of her system by a cold fear that tasted metallic on her tongue. "What are you doing?" She tried to ask, but he swung an arm out and struck her _hard_. Completely unprepared for retaliation, Vane took the entire force of the blow and flew backward, landing in the rubble.

"_Please_," Zephyr remarked tiredly, as though she were really daft to have not seen it coming. "Your role in this has ended."

Vane scrambled to her feet, eyes narrowed. "_What_?" Even covered in debris-filled scrapes she still had a hard time believing that this was actually happening to her right now. But he'd meant what he said, and landed a punch to her face.

Recoiling from the blow with an angry cry she leapt away and tried to become airborne, but Zephyr jumped up after her and wrapped his gloved fingers around her retreating ankle and yanked her down into the ground unceremoniously. Groaning in pain she hauled herself up and fell against the side of a crumbled building, leaning against the cement slab to try and reorient her mind. Zephyr was right behind her, twisting one of her arms away as she tried to fight him off and holding the other against the wall.

Angry tears welled in her eyes as she hissed, "I did this! You need me. You couldn't have done this without me." With every syllable, she tasted blood.

For a brief moment he smiled at her wickedly - he was so much more terrifying when he smiled – but the expression fell from his face quickly as he corrected, "No. I could have done it without you. You were just a short cut, a cheat. I'm not sure how it got into your vapid little head that I needed you, but no matter." His grip on her wrists tightened and she writhed in pain.

But Vane still fought to speak, her voice strained as she tried to remain strong. "I could still help you. I _want _to help you. I want to _serve _you."

Desperation was obvious in her glimmering eyes, but Zephyr held no sympathy for the pawn in his grasp. He chuckled darkly. "When the Warehouse disbanded, I considered killing you, but you already knew enough that I might get any use out of you. Now, my dear, don't ever believe you were anything but a poor excuse for a soldier. What little use you were to me has run its course. With the completion of phase one, you are now just a _liability_."

Suddenly he released her and backed a step away, crossing his arms behind his back. Vane dropped to her knees and held her arms, trying to block out the pain that pulsated from the places he'd touched. Looking up at him she felt her heart breaking, so disillusioned and confused. When she opened her mouth to plead with him, he wagged his finger at her like she was a disobedient puppy.

Zephyr lowered himself to one knee and reached out to cup one cheek with his calloused palm. "I can do this without you," she said purposefully soft, letting the meaning of his words do damage rather than the tone. "I _will _do this without you. And just to make sure you won't cause me any more trouble," His other hand suddenly clamped the other side of her face. "_I'm going to kill you._"

Vane tried to scream but his hands had dropped down and were now wrapped around her neck. The leather of his gloves felt like it was ripping in to her skin as she coughed and sputtered and desperately tried to stop him from crushing her windpipe. He stood up, holding her in the air while she kicked at his elbows and chest. Hot tears streamed down her face as a miserable fury boiled in her blood. The air all around them began to swirl, lashing at Zephyr as it raged. But she was not strong enough and with every moment that he pushed down on her throat she was losing it.

Her head felt heavy, her body felt weak, and the wind around her was dying out. The edges of her vision went fuzzy, then black. With one last exertion she managed to kick Zephyr directly in the jaw, prompting a furious snarl to rip from his throat. With all his might he whipped her at the ground like the ragdoll she'd always been to him. Vane's body crashed to the street. A rumble followed the contact and pieces of broken buildings came crashing down over her.

Zephyr wiped the blood off his chin and stood for a moment, watching the dust settle. There was no more movement. Satisfied, he simply turned away and walked on – there was nothing left to do in the shambles of Red City.

All was still for a while. The sun had all but disappeared completely before a few slim fingers appeared from behind the rubble, clutching the chunks of cement. The struggle to remove herself from the pile was immense. Her shirt was torn, her skin cut up and bruised everywhere she could see, and her brain hardly functioning from the lack of oxygen. She could barely see anything more than fuzzy shapes, and there was a ringing in her ears that drilled into her brain. And when she finally dislodged herself from the rubble, Vane was desperate to find somewhere to hide, but there was nothing left in her to continue on.

On the street the dying girl let her eyes close as she sank into the debris. The ringing in the ears slowly faded away as she slipped from consciousness - but right before she went under, she heard something odd, something that might not have been real. But she swore it sounded like… footsteps?

* * *

**Thanks for reading :) **


	12. A Change in the Wind

[authors note]

Titans don't belong to me, etc etc.

Phew, all the previous chapters (1-9) have now been revised. Here's a short transition chapter for ya - but is this new situation better or worse for Vane? Hehehe~ Next chapter will contain some Vane backstory and plot pick up. Let me know what you think :)

Thanks!

-ch twelve: a change in the wind-

When she awoke Vane had a hard time understanding the state of her consciousness. For a while she assumed she was still lying in the rubble where Zephyr had left her, dying a cruel and painful death fit for her sins. But she didn't seem to be losing her senses the way she imagined she would when she went out. If anything, there was a horrible sound filling her ears. Soon she figured out that sound was the blood rushing through her pounding head.

As the haze in her mind started to clear she became aware of a number of sensations. In her unconscious state her legs had been curled up against her torso. Gingerly she attempted to stretch them out, though the relief in tension was nothing but painful. Her torso felt like a part of her body she wanted nothing to do with, ribs and gut all pulsating with different kinds of pain. Her arms were immobile, but she felt the soreness of her muscles all the same. It took her a moment of wiggling her hands to realize they were bound behind her back.

At this her mind seemed to wake. _Why_? What the hell was going on? Pieces of recollection had barely gathered in her mind when Vane jolted, pushing roughly against the cold floor to upright herself. Her eyes finally opened, squinting hard at the rubble-covered floor. _That's right. Zephyr tried to kill me. _

Her heartbeat quickened as she looked around, straining against a massive headache and overall weakness to see straight.

Through the shattered window she could very clearly see a bakery sign at the edge of a pile of red brick rubble – _The Sugar Shack_. She was still in Red City. Dread seeped into her skin at the realization.

In the silence of the ruins it was easy to pick out the sound of footsteps as they approached. It wasn't Zephyr that rounded the corner, but she didn't want to see _him _any more than the other.

His steel toed boots made an uncomfortable clack against the cement as he approached. Vane refused to look up at him. She pressed her back into the wall behind her, desperately hoping it might swallow her and she could disappear. In fact, she wished for a moment that Zephyr had finished the job and taken her out in the first place so she wouldn't be in this situation. _How morbid_.

Robin stopped practically on top of her, towering over Vane as though he wanted her to feel intimidated. It was too late for that. All the fear had washed out of her and she was left with the residual desire to just be dead already. The silence grew awkward, however, and finally she lifted her head as much as she could, wincing through the movement, and gave him a lifeless stare.

Still he said nothing. Swallowing in an attempt to loosen her vocal chords she murmured, "You kept me alive for a reason."

"You have Raven to thank for that," he responded tersely.

Like a dog to its name the cloaked girl appeared from the same way Robin had, followed shortly by the rest of the Titans. Each seemed equally pissed off and entirely devoid of that team spark they all seemed to share. For a moment Vane might have felt guilty.

Her eyes flickered back to the Leader. "What do you want?"

His eyes narrowed. "Tell us everything."

"_Kill_ _me_." She fired back immediately, the loathing etched into her expression. Her spine ached, desperate to stand up tall and stick out her chest and refuse to become this person. She'd gone from Zephyr's apprentice, the pinnacle of the operation, to a worthless and abused pawn, to the enemy's prisoner. No doubt the grudges they held against her were entirely personal, volatile with emotion – the kind of grudges that would hurt her in a heartbeat. How could she possibly let herself go any lower than this? Groveling at their feet, begging for forgiveness, telling them _everything _they needed to know. She'd been reduced to slug in terms of everyone's respect.

Vane held on to the bitter silence with her teeth clenched tightly, finding it hard to breathe with so much contempt for her life.

To everyone's surprise it was Beast Boy's voice that broke the tense silence.

"What's the matter with you? Don't you think after everything you've been through you should help us? Don't you think after everything you put us through you owe us?"

His words grated against her mind. Vane turned to look at him, eyes narrowed and mouth hanging slightly as though he was stupid for that outburst, but she couldn't say anything. What if he had a point?

She clamped her mouth tightly shut and looked at her feet. It hurt to think about all this so soon. She wore a mixture of shame and anger on her face as she surveyed all the scuffs and dirt and blood that stained her Converse.

"You're not even going to say anything?"

She whipped her head up and glared. "What do you want me to say?" Vane demanded, softly but harshly. "My entire _life _has fallen apart irreplaceably."

Raven sighed, her words angry. "If you think your wounded pride is the biggest problem right now-"

"No," Vane interrupted, practically howling the word. "You don't get to talk about me. You don't even know me. I wasn't always a _villain_."

She could see it in their eyes that they struggled to believe her. After all, she'd seemed pretty pleased to attack them and partake in the destruction of an entire city. Vane would not deny that either. It _had _felt wonderful. Everything she did felt _good_ – like pieces of a puzzle falling in to place. And that's exactly what it had been.

There was no reason for her to justify herself to these freaks, but Beast Boy's plea kept ringing in her ears. It was maddening. She couldn't keep it in any longer.

Grudgingly she admitted, "I was just trying to feel safe, for once in my life."

Gingerly, Starfire took a seat on the concrete. Beast Boy did as well, though he kept his eyes away from Vane. The remaining three stood, keeping their distance from the wind-mover. This she assumed was an invitation to keep talking, so she fixed her eyes on a point away from all of them and let loose a flurry of words.

"Red City outlawed superheroes a while before I was born. When they discovered I had powers I was taken away from my parents and put in an orphanage with all the rest of society's rejects. There was this girl named Finch; she had wings. The government clipped them but they didn't do it properly so she could still fly – that made me so angry. She used to pick on me when we were in school and one day I lost it and attacked her. The police were coming to throw me in jail when Zephyr found me. He said if I worked for him that one day I could have my revenge, that I wouldn't have to hide any longer. Can you understand what that felt like? To hear that for once in my life I wouldn't be the gum under someone's boot?"

Vane glanced back at them, almost hoping to find a bit of sympathy though she was unsurprised when she didn't.

She sighed and revealed quietly, "I don't know how it all got so twisted. I mean, I knew up front what he intended to do. I never thought this was how it would turn out."

This time she let the silence sit, let them make of her words what they wanted. If they were contemplating what she said at all they didn't show it. Vane wondered if they had even been listening at all. For all she knew they could've been regretting their decision to keep her alive and hoping to find a non-illegal way to commit murder.

Finally, a gentle voice broke the ice. "I believe you," Starfire whispered, almost piteously. At that point, Vane accepted pity.

She found Robin's eyes trained on her again, and waited for him to ask something more of her. "You were his apprentice." He said warily, as though recalling his own time as one. "For a long time. You must have an idea, then-"

Vane cut him off. "If you're hoping I know where Zephyr is going next…" she bit her lip with hesitation. "I do."

"_Well_?" Robin probed, irritated that he even had to.

She hesitated, for once not happy to be the bearer of bad news. "It's Jump City." She heard Starfire and Cyborg gasp and watched Raven and Beast Boy glance at each other, swapping looks of worry and fury. Only Robin retained his composure. Quickly Vane added, "I know where he's setting up. I'll take you there."

Though she had expected it, Vane was almost insulted by the skeptical looks they massed among each other.

"I don't expect you to trust me; in fact, you're stupid if you do… on everything except this. Please don't tell me you honestly believe this is some elaborate scheme on Zephyr's part. I was literally beaten within a breath of death."

Robin crossed his arms and looked away from her. "We know. We saw the whole thing."

That stung. Vane swallowed the embarrassment as best as she could and covered up the hitch. "Great, so you know it was authentic."

There was little time to discuss the matter. Too stressed to have a discussion with his team about how to proceed he snapped, "Fine, but we're going to watch you every step."

"So that's a no for untying me?" Vane attempted.

Cyborg hoisted her up, not roughly but not kindly either. Sighing, she resigned herself to her new leash and turned to lead them away.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**


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